Will Budget OIC Secretary Rolando Toledo make a difference?

Newly-installed Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officer-in-charge Rolando U. Toledo is setting his sights on fast-tracking major reforms in the agency long mired in controversy.

“Sisikapin natin na hindi lang maipagpatuloy ang mga repormang ating isinusulong, kundi lalo pa po nating pagtitibayin ang mga ito,” he said on November 24. “Higit sa lahat, sisiguruhin po natin na ang mga prayoridad ng Pangulo ay malinaw na nakapaloob sa ating budget at mararamdaman ng bawat Pilipino.”

(We will strive not only to continue the reforms we are pushing, but to also strengthen them even further. Above all, we will make sure that the President’s priorities are clearly reflected in our budget and felt by every Filipino.)

Toledo’s designation comes during a high-tension period, immediately following the resignation of Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman amid sweeping public controversies that directly implicated the DBM in the scandal surrounding multi-billion-peso flood control projects. 

Toledo inherits the task of restoring trust while wielding the power to allocate every single peso of the Philippine government’s budget to all its agencies. But what is his reputation anyway?

38 years of DBM service

Toledo is a certified public accountant who earned his business administration degree from the University of the East in 1984. Ten years later, he completed a program in development economics at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, followed by a master’s degree in national security administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines in June 2024.

This educational foundation paved the way for Toledo’s 38-year career at the DBM, where he steadily rose through the ranks before his latest appointment.

Toledo started at the DBM in 1987 as a budget analyst until 2012. He later became the director of the fiscal planning and reforms bureau in 2013 and the functional group head of the budget policy and strategy group in 2018.

Before becoming the DBM OIC, Toledo served as the agency’s assistant secretary, supervising the local government and regional operations group of the department, in 2023. In 2024, he became the undersecretary for the budget preparation and execution group.

He said that his 38 years of service at the DBM allow him to attest to the agency’s steadfast value of integrity and its consistent practice of good governance.

“To all members of the DBM family, let us move forward with hope and positive energy… At tayo-tayo pa ring lahat ang magkakasama. Wala tayong hindi kakayanin, basta’t tulong-tulong para sa bansa natin,” he added. 

(All of us will still be together. There’s nothing we can’t do as long as we help each other to serve our country.)

How different will Toledo be?

Toledo played a huge role in the budget, particularly in 2024, when he led the central unit responsible for crafting and implementing the national budget.

His knowledge of what goes into the budget shows. During the Senate blue ribbon committee on the flood control scandal in September, Toledo confirmed that P107 billion was used to finance flood control projects for 2024.

Toledo also gave a glimpse of how unprogrammed funds were used for these projects. He stated that it is the DBM secretary — then-secretary Pangandaman — “who will be the one to sign for the release documents for the requests of flood control under the unprogrammed funds.”

Malacañang announced Pangandaman’s resignation on November 17, following accusations by resigned House legislator Zaldy Co that she had personally called him to relay President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s alleged instruction regarding a P100-billion budget insertion. (READ: Zaldy Co tags Marcos, Romualdez in bicam insertion scheme)

Will Toledo be different from his predecessor? – with reports from Princess Leah Sagaad and Jodesz Gavilan/Rappler.com