President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attends the Oath-Taking Ceremony of the Newly Promoted Generals and Flag Officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at the Ceremonial Hall inside Malacañan Palace on December 4, 2024. Santi San Juan, PPA pool

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday highlighted the importance of involving the public for an open governance.

This, as he addressed stakeholders from various groups and nations, with the Philippines hosting the 2025 Open Government Partnership Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting in Taguig City.

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The President called the partnership a "key mechanism to deepen participatory governance" as identified in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028. 

"By actively involving our citizens in the decision-making process, we establish their significant influence on policy development, as it should be," Marcos said in his speech. 

He cited the administration's forging of partnerships with various civil service organizations and institutionalizing the Open Government Partnership as a multi-stakeholder partnership through Executive Order No. 31 in June 2023.

Marcos also underscored the importance of access to information and digitalization to attain government transparency. 

He mentioned the administration's Public Financial Management Reforms Roadmap 2024-2028 as a "budget blueprint" that would automate financial systems to monitor public expenditure. 

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"We are now working on harmonizing our various budget management systems to eliminate redundancies and to achieve efficiency and accuracy in the management of our revenues and of our expenditures," the chief executive added. 

Marcos noted that some 4,000 stakeholders from local government and civil society organizations nationwide pledged their commitment to open governance through the administration's advocacy campaign called "OGPinas!"

He expressed confidence in working with various governments for fiscal transparency, digital governance, and climate resilience.

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"Beyond our variances in our approaches, our shared vision is clear-cut: we want every budget allocation, policy decision, and program implementation to involve public participation—all in pursuit to the empowerment and to the upliftment of our people," Marcos stated. 

The OGP is a global, multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to make governments "more transparent, accountable and responsive to citizens" by promoting collaboration between the government and the civil society, according to the Department of Budget and Management.

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