The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will capacitate newly-minted barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials in Central Luzon on budget planning.

DBM Region 3 Acting Assistant Director Gracela Ortiz shared that their staff, together with a pool of trainers, will provide capacity development interventions on planning and budgeting to village officials in January 2024.

“We want to improve their skills to effectively and efficiently manage and utilize government resources. We will empower them through provision of capacity development interventions to enhance their knowledge and skills to aid them in the discharge of their mandates,” she said.

The agency is also working with the National Youth Commission to include SK officials in the said undertaking.

The official reminded newly elected officials to serve with utmost integrity and honesty and never violate public interest.

“Public office is a public trust. As local government officials, you have been entrusted with public power by the people; that you hold that public power in trust to be used only for the benefit of the people and never for your own benefit or of a few,” she pressed.

Meanwhile, DBM Region 3 Supervising Budget and Management Specialist Jenina Pineda underscored that it is vital for officials to properly utilize their funds especially with the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ruling.

She explained that the ruling involves the inclusion of collections from the Bureau of Customs and other collecting agencies as certified by the Bureau of the Treasury as part of the national taxes of the national government.

Of these, 40 percent will be allocated to local government units (LGUs) pursuant to Section 6, Article X of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, as implemented by Section 284 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.

“As newly elected officials, especially the punong barangays and SK Chairpersons, they will be the purse-keepers and in charge of implementing programs, projects and activities for their constituents pursuant to Section 17 of the [Local Government] Code,” Pineda said.

The agency said it will provide further capacity building, training, and seminars to LGUs to enable them to assume their devolved functions by 2027.

Meanwhile, for officials in provinces, cities, and municipalities, Ortiz highlighted that they are conducting the Public Financial Management Competency Program (PFMCP).

“The PFMCP is a program of DBM which aims to enhance or deepen the knowledge of local government officials on public financial management with the end goal of promoting good governance, financial accountability, and effective resource management in our localities,” she explained.

The program covers sessions in maintaining PFM understanding, principles of internal controls and internal audit, budget preparation, authorization and reviews, budget execution, budget accountability, and government procurement.

DBM has already conducted the first batch of PFMCP this year in Nueva Ecija last September. (PIA 3)