The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has stressed the need to mainstream gender and development in the national budget, instead of just requiring at least five percent.
At the first-ever high-level ministerial International Conference on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) hosted by the Philippines on Wednesday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman reported that 16.68 percent of the entire National Budget in 2023 was allocated for Gender and Development (GAD), much higher than the mandated minimum of five percent allocation for gender programs, projects and activities.
“We should mainstream women in the entire national budget. You don’t allocate just five percent. When agencies, when our leaders propose the budget, they have to ensure that the Women’s Budget or women empowerment programs and projects is the goal of that budget,” Pangandaman said yesterday in the event held in Manila.
“It’s like the entire budget should be providing livelihood, providing work, providing jobs to everyone,” she added.
She then shared the government-funded WPS initiatives that promote women empowerment and lasting peace and security in the country.
These include social protection programs, such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program which also covers additional grants for pregnant and lactating mothers, and programs geared towards women’s economic empowerment such as the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso Program.
Pangandaman also cited the People’s Survival Fund that addresses women’s needs during climate crisis and disasters, as well as the PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn Program which strengthens peacebuilding initiatives, reconstruction, and development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“As you know, women empowerment leads to equality; equality leads to peace; peace leads to economic development; and economic development leads to prosperity,” the budget chief said.