Senator Risa Hontiveros lauds DBM initiatives for more efficient budget utilization

DBM PRESS RELEASE 

Senator Risa Hontiveros lauded the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), led by Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, for proactively advocating the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS) as a long-term solution that will be beneficial for all stakeholders, especially for future generations. 

“It is good to know that not only is DBM already conducting quarterly monitoring but also thinks about the possibility of real-time monitoring. And this is not only useful for the national government but also beneficial for the private sector, civil society, and the citizens,” Senator Hontiveros said during the plenary deliberations on the general principles of the FY 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on November 8, 2023. 

An integral part of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), the BTMS is targeted to be implemented by the 3rd Quarter of FY 2024 and will be piloted to PFM oversight agencies such as the DBM, Department of Finance (DOF), Commission on Audit, and the Bureau of the Treasury, as well as to implementing agencies such as the Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Department of Transportation. 

DBM is likewise pushing for the amendment of the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) to address procurement bottlenecks and make the procurement process more attuned to the changing times. 

“These are further, and perhaps even more strategic, across-the-board corrective measures that DBM is implementing,” Senator Hontiveros said. 

Also present during the plenary deliberations on the FY 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) are DOF Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary (NEDA) Arsenio M. Balisacan, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila Jr.

The Senate aims to approve the FY 2024 GAB on final reading by November 27,  to be followed by a bicameral conference meeting to reconcile the differing versions of both chambers of Congress.

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