Marcos: Open governance fundamental to prosperity, stability

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. highlighted Thursday the significance of open governance in attaining stability and prosperity.

Marcos made the remark as he graced the 2025 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting in Taguig City.

In his speech, Marcos said the Philippines has enhanced its efforts to build a "more responsive, inclusive, and transparent government."

"May we see the grand opportunity we have today and use it to send a powerful message to the world: that open governance is fundamental to prosperity, to stability, and to security in a rapidly transforming world," Marcos said.

The OGP is an international movement for openness established in 2011. The Philippines is one of its eight founding governments, together with Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It seeks to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

In the same speech, Marcos said he looks forward to hearing the experiences of foreign visitors in order to learn from their best practices on fiscal transparency, digital governance, and climate resilience, among the other open government challenge areas.

"Beyond our variances in our approaches, our shared vision is clear-cut: we want every budget allocation, policy decision, and program implementation to involve public participation—all in pursuit to the empowerment and to the upliftment of our people," said the President.

Marcos then urged all government agencies, local government units, and CSOs, as well as our international friends and partners "to let us continue to work hand in hand in this very important endeavor."

According to the House of Representatives' Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department, the open government concept relates to the openness of public or government institutions in sharing critical information, promoting citizen participation in policy-making, and empowering citizens to hold public officials and governments accountable. — VDV, GMA Integrated News