With ex-Senate staffer as next DBM chief, Angara sees ‘smooth’ coordination

Senate Finance Committee chairperson Sonny Angara. Senate PRIB file photo / Voltaire F. Domingo

MANILA, Philippines — Senate finance panel chairman Senator Sonny Angara sees “smooth” coordination between the legislature and the executive branch under the leadership of the incoming budget secretary, who previously served in the upper chamber for years.

“We welcome with open arms the appointment of Amenah Pangandaman as the incoming Budget secretary under the Marcos administration,” Angara said in a statement on Monday.

“Given her long experience in both the legislature and the executive branches, we look forward to working with Mina once again as we go over the 2023 national budget later this year,” he added.

Angara noted that Pangandaman worked as the chief-of-staff of his father, late former Senate President Edgardo Angara.

The incoming budget chief also worked under Senator-elect Loren Legarda when the latter headed the Senate finance committee in the previous Congress.

“I am confident that we will be able to collaborate with the incoming Secretary, who has worked with my father, former Senate President Edgardo Angara as his chief-of-staff, and returning Senator Loren Legarda, when she was the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance,” Angara went on.

“With her stint in the Senate, the Department of Budget and Management, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), we can be assured that the coordination between the two branches of government will be smooth,” he added.

Pangandaman is among several incoming Cabinet members that incoming Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles revealed in a press briefing on Monday.

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JPV