LGUs eyed in Open Government Partnership initiatives
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman entertains questions from the media on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, during the preparation for the Philippines’ hosting of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia-Pacific Meeting on February 5 to 7. I(NQUIRER.net / LUISA CABATO)
MANILA, Philippines —Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said on Friday that the Philippines will introduce the Open Government Partnership initiatives to other branches of government down to the grassroots level.
She said this on the sidelines of the closing plenary of the 2025 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) in Taguig City.
“Well, for the Philippines at least, we will continue to mainstream the Philippine Open Government Partnership across all departments, across all the branches of government,” Pangandaman told INQUIRER.net in an interview.
“Kanina narinig natin gusto nila isama pati yung mga constitutional and mga commission. We’ll try to make them part, even the Central Bank, and we’ll try to bring it down more in the grassroots, more local government units [LGUs] to join the Open Government Partnership,” she said, referring to the suggestion of the ceremony speakers.
(Earlier, we heard that they want to include even the constitutional bodies and commissions. We’ll try to make them part of it, even the Central Bank, and we’ll try to bring it down more to the grassroots, involving more local government units (LGUs) in joining the Open Government Partnership.)
Pangandaman also highlighted that local participants were able to learn best practices of open government from foreign attendees.
“So, we hope to get something from them if they have policies that we can adopt. And the same way, if we have policies that they can adopt,” she said.
“It’s all about sharing, all about partnership, all about building relationships, and building trust,” she added.
Investment and job opportunities
Open government builds trust from foreign investors and ultimately leads to job creation for Filipinos, Pangandaman said.
“When there’s trust, when there’s openness, and when there’s transparency, there’s efficiency,” she said.
“We want to let our investors, our partners, again, outside the Philippines. When you do business here, we’ll make sure that it will flourish,” she continued.
The OGP is a global, multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at helping governments and civil society groups become more “transparent, accountable, and responsive to citizens,” as defined by the Department of Budget and Management, which chairs the Philippine Open Government Partnership.
Held from Feb. 5 to 7, the event brought together at least 700 local and international delegates, who shared their open government strategies through simultaneous dialogues.
Some of the important topics discussed were ways to fight corruption, jail decongestion, digital governance, climate resilience, and poverty reduction.
