Tapped to lead the Department of Budget and Management at a critical time, Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman is on a mission to regain lost ground in the aftermath of a harrowing pandemic — all as she endeavors to uplift the lives of the ordinary Filipino.
Armed with 20 years of experience in public service, Amenah F. Pangandaman is on a league of her own. Aside from being the first Muslim woman to be appointed as Budget Secretary, she also serves as the lone female member of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr’s economic team.
During her oath-taking in Malacañang last year, Pangandaman immediately vowed to create meaningful reforms at the Department of Budget and Management. “The pandemic was a challenge like no other, in the way it stretched our resources and set us back from our goals as a nation. My team and I vow to work with the rest of the economic team and continue the policies and reforms that we have long fought for,” she said. “We will strive to ensure prudent and transparent use of public funds in a way that allows us to regain lost ground while also uplifting the lives of the ordinary Filipino.”
Barely a year into her post, Pangandaman has proven that these are not empty promises. She has already jumpstarted the digitalization of DBM systems to discourage corruption, found ways to incorporate sustainability in the process and made information on the national budget more accessible to the public.
Her focus and determination to accomplish her goals and keep the agency’s employees on their toes didn’t go unnoticed. For one, she scored a 73-percent performance rating at the RP-Mission and Development Foundation’s “Boses ng Bayan” survey, released in March 2023. “This will inspire me to work twice as hard to ensure that we are on track with our Agenda for Prosperity, so that no Filipino would be left behind in our economic transformation,” she said.
But who exactly is the lady guarding the nation’s purse strings?
After earning a bachelor’s degree in Economics at the Far Eastern University, plus a Master’s in Development Economics at the University of the Philippines, Mina — as she’s fondly called — started as a researcher at the Senate, working with then-Senate President Edgardo J. Angara and Sen. Loren Legarda. Through sheer dint of hard work, the former research assistant eventually became Angara’a Chief of Staff.
Legarda describes her as someone of “utmost integrity,” before adding that “She has the dedication to duty and public service… When I was a young senator, I would see this thin girl running around in the Senate corridor, working hard. To the kids, if you need inspiration, she’s the one.”
Mina also learned how to craft the national budget when she worked as an assistant, and later as undersecretary in the office of then-Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. She was also a technical adviser and assistant governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Budget Undersecretary Goddes Hope Libiran, who works closely with Secretary Mina, also shares how much she admires the latter’s nurturing personality. “She truly cares. Even if she’s not a mother herself, she has that kind of connection with her team. She’s very giving with opportunities for her team or those around her. Most of all, she feels happy when someone is doing well and gaining success in life,” said Libiran.
