MANILA, Philippines –The Marcos administration narrowed its public financial management (PFM) reform agenda to 18 of 41 measures for completion by 2028.
The Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) PFM Reforms Roadmap 2024–2028 Midterm Update identifies 18 priority interventions: 14 mission-critical reforms and four quick wins.
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“The mission-critical reforms spread across the 11 strategic focus areas constitute the core structural changes required to strengthen fiscal discipline, transparency, and operational efficiency,” the midterm update said.
“Meanwhile, the quick-win interventions provide rapid, visible improvements that reinforce reform momentum,” it added.
Quick fixes
The remaining 23 interventions will remain part of the government’s broader reform agenda, although their implementation will depend on institutional readiness, resource availability, technical requirements and support from development partners.
The remaining reforms will extend beyond 2028.
The updates came after a 2025 PEFA++ assessment found that only 7 percent of the roadmap’s 41 interventions had been completed as of December 2025. About 67 percent registered limited to substantial progress, while the rest had yet to commence.
According to the review, persistent challenges continue to hamper implementation, including fragmented planning and budgeting systems, manual processes, weak monitoring mechanisms, procurement transparency issues, and capacity constraints.
Operational gaps
The assessment noted gaps across the public financial management cycle and classified them according to the level of attention required.
Budget execution needs critical attention, while budget reliability, accounting and reporting, and external audit require high attention.
It also said asset-liability management and fiscal strategy need more attention, while gains in public finance transparency must be sustained.
“The review highlighted several strategic insights for steering PFM reforms: reform ambition must be matched with institutional capacity; sequencing is indispensable for complex, cross-agency reforms,” the document said.
“Strong ownership and accountability accelerate delivery; monitoring and reporting must be standardized and technology-enabled; and diagnostic evidence must directly shape reform priorities and resource allocation,” it added.
Issued under Executive Order No. 29 in 2023, the roadmap outlines the government’s plan to strengthen fiscal governance, improve service delivery and ensure accountable public resource management.
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Key reforms included the Treasury’s debt strategy, the Budget and Treasury Management System, the New Government Procurement Act, and the devolution transition extension to 2028. /pai INQ