The Honorable Amenah Pangandaman
Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman is the 12th Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). The only female member of the Philippine Economic Team, she also holds the role of Chairperson of the following: the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), the Government Quality Management Committee (GQMC), and the Committee on Devolution (ComDev).
She is also Chairperson of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) which, under her leadership, once again became a member of the global OGP Steering Committee beginning October 2024 and in February 2025 hosted the OGP Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting for the first time, participated in by over a thousand open government champions and reformers from more than 40 countries.
As the first Filipina Muslim Budget Secretary and the only Filipina Muslim in the Cabinet of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., she is also Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB), for which she earned the Gawad Kapayapaan Award given by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) in 2024.
Among the achievements of the DBM during Sec. Amenah’s less than three years in office are the successful passage of the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) and the Government Optimization (GOP) Act, the institutionalization of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP), the creation of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms Roadmap 2024-2028, the full adoption of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), the strengthening of Program Convergence Budgeting (PCB), the Philippines being recognized by the Open Budget Survey as No. 1 in budget transparency in Asia, the completion of the multi-framework and multi-stakeholder Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessments, and the relaunch of the Project Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation (DIME).
The Budget Secretary carries more than 20 years of experience in government service and has worked in both the Executive and Legislative branches, as well as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) where she pushed for reforms including the adoption of digital payments for government disbursements and collections through Executive Order No. 170.
A truly dedicated public servant, she received several awards including “Distinguished Alumna in Good Governance in Budget Management” by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) Alumni Awards, “Outstanding Public Servant” by the Public Attorney’s Office, “People of the Year” by PeopleAsia, and “Outstanding Filipina in the Field of Public Service” by the Gawad Pilipino Awards in 2025. She was also granted an honorary Doctorate Degree in Education by the Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU), honorary Doctorate Degree of Philosophy in Economics by the Mindanao State University (MSU), honorary Doctorate Degree in Public Administration by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), and holds the rank Vice Admiral of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA).
Sec. Amenah holds a degree in Economics from Far Eastern University and a diploma and master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of the Philippines. She has also attended the London School of Economics for an Executive Master of Public Policy.
