ILOILO CITY, Iloilo - The Philippine Association for Government Budget Administration Inc. (PAGBA) conducted its 1st Quarterly Seminar and Meeting held at The Mansion, Iloilo City on February 7-10, 2018. It was attended by more than 1,000 participants, mostly financial and administrative personnel coming from various government agencies and Local Government Units (LGUs) all over the country. Five administrative staff from ATI-Caraga consisted of Remedios C. Amilao (AO IV), Francis H. Iriarte (Accountant I), Aurea Janine P. Abucay (Budget Officer), Lelit I. Abrigo (Cashier) and Ligaya M. Antiola (Supply Officer) participated in the said event. During the opening program, the President of PAGBA Dir. Zenaida B. Chang, presented the Certificate of Accreditation as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provider.

The event was graced by Mr. Joel L. Tan-Torres, Chairman of the Board of Accountancy, as keynote speaker. He gave updates to the government accountants regarding issues on public finance. He urged the accountants to be competent particularly in the trends of robotics, artificial intelligence, cloud hosting, technology tools and applications, data analytics and other technology in today’s digital world.

The seminar addressed a variety of topics which were suggested by the members of the association in areas of finance and administrative functions. Mr. Joselito C. Caballero, Senior Technical Audit Specialist of the Commission on Audit (COA), discussed about COA Rules and Regulations on the disposal of assets. On budgeting, salient features of the 2019 Budget Call was introduced by Director Cristina B. Clasara from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). Another topic discussed was the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law which was explained by Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Marissa O. Cabreros. Civil Service Commission (CSC) Assistant Commissioner Ariel G. Ronquillo was also present to give updates on Civil Service Rules and Regulation. Another discussion was on Harmonizing Local and National Budget which was delivered by DBM Director Leila Magda C. Rivera. She stressed that there must be strong vertical linkage between national and local development plans, investment programs and budget. The last topic was the Procurement Law (RA 9184) presented by Mr. Dennis S. Santiago the Executive Director of Government Procurement Policy Board, Technical Support Office of DBM.