By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, March 28, 2025; Philippine News Agency

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1247041

MANILA – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will launch digital tools to monitor the government’s financial transactions and the status of infrastructure projects, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said Friday.

During the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines’ (FINEX) third general membership meeting at the Makati Shangri-la, Pangandaman said the real-time application for the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and the Budget Treasury Management System (BTMS) would be accessible to the public soon.

She said the DBM is already in the transition phase, adding that it is working with few government departments to ensure the success of the launching of the application.

“It’s a real-time application that you will see on our website soon,” Pangandaman said, when asked about the government’s efforts to ensure the efficient utilization and monitoring of the national budget.

“It’s a real-time application wherein everyone, including the public, can see all the government transactions, all the money that we sent to different agencies, the money that is given to our suppliers and contractors, and at the same time, whether the money is being spent on time,” she added.

Pangandaman acknowledged that the public is not aware of the government’s “real” financial health because currently, agencies have to manually submit their quarterly reports on their transactions.

She said the manual submission of government transactions makes it difficult for the agencies to submit their reports on time.

“And even if we remind the agencies to submit a quarterly report, we don’t get on time because it’s manual,” Pangandaman said, noting that the DBM is getting the reports a month after the deadline.

The IFMIS aims to create a primary tool and a “single source of truth” for all fiscal-related transactions, facilitating the faster release of data and preventing red tape and other corruption-related activities.

It will also pave the way for the implementation of paperless transactions and the reduction of government expenses on manual transactions.

A crucial part of IFMIS is the BTMS, a centralized database that covers all government financial operations, from purchase to payment, and real-time transaction monitoring.

On top of the real-time application for government’s financial transactions, the DBM would soon launch the Project DIME (Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation), a real-time web-based tool that will allow the public to monitor the implementation of infrastructure projects, Pangandaman said.

“And at the same time, the public can actually comment whether those projects that we show in our website are true,” she said. “From our end, we try to be more transparent and accountable. Whatever I see in the budget document, we would like to ensure that this is being reported to the public [in] advance, even prior to audit reporting because audit reporting comes after.”

The Project DIME uses technologies such as satellites, drones, and geotagging to monitor the status of major projects, with a goal to enhance government transparency and accountability, encourage citizen participation, and ensure that the public funds are well-spent. (PNA)