National Treasurer Sharon Almanza; BSP Assistant Governor Lyn Javier; SEC Commissioner Bryant Fernandez; Mr. Antonino Nakpil, President and CEO of the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corporation; Mr. Nichel Gaba, CEO of the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange; Ms. Martha Sazon, President and CEO of GCash; Mr. Oscar Reyes, President and CEO of GXI; our government securities eligible dealers; fellow workers in government; friends: good afternoon.

It is my privilege to be in the same room of people with a shared mission of empowering Filipinos for a better tomorrow.

But first, let me congratulate the men and women of the Bureau of the Treasury on their 127th anniversary.

This milestone honors the Treasury’s profound legacy of funding the Republic for over a century to fuel the dreams and aspirations of every Filipino.

Since the time of Baldomero Aguinaldo, the country’s first-ever Finance Secretary and at the same time National Treasurer, the core functions of the Treasury have remained unchanged: to manage the nation’s financial lifeblood with utmost efficiency and integrity.

Kaya napaka-angkop na tawagin kayong Kagawaran ng Ingat Yaman. Dahil kayo ang nagsisilbing agila, na matalim ang mga mata at mahigpit na nagbabantay sa kaban ng bayan.

You are the bedrock of our nation’s stability, ensuring that the government’s funding requirement is met at the lowest possible cost—for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in economic sickness or health.

With this very noble mission, I sincerely thank each employee of the BTR—both past and present—for your great hard work and dedicated service to the Filipino people. Palakpakan po natin silang lahat.

And it is just fitting that today, we are also recognizing the government’s reliable partners in its fundraising initiatives while creating opportunities for Filipinos to grow their savings.

To put into perspective, for this year alone, our expenditures amount to 15.80 billion pesos every day, of which only 11.71 billion pesos a day will be financed by revenues. The rest, 4.10 billion pesos a day, will be plugged by debts. Kada bente kwatro oras.

And when it comes to debts, it is not enough to simply raise the funds. We need to ensure that the 4.10 billion pesos a day that we need to borrow is prudently sourced. It must be very affordable.

And this is where the critical role of government securities eligible dealers or GSEDs comes in.

With your help, we were able to raise an unprecedented 586.84 billion pesos from our 30th Retail Treasury Bond offering.

This was the highest amount ever obtained of all our RTBs, fulfilling over a fifth of our financing requirement for the year in a cost-effective manner.

For this historic feat, I commend our GSEDS, especially the top 10 of them, for relentlessly reaching out to our investing public, especially our retail sector and ordinary Filipinos.

Rest assured, the government will continue to pursue the right policies that solidify our financial institutions and modernize the Philippine capital market to support your growth and every Filipino’s journey towards financial freedom.

In fact, on top of our various digitalization initiatives, we are launching next month the innovative GBonds with GCash to make investing even easier and more accessible for the public.

For we envision a future where investing in government bonds is no longer a luxury but a new normal for Filipinos—with just a few swipes away and as easy as ordering their favorite food delivery.

This empowers our people to effortlessly secure their future, all from the comfort of their homes.

And for this to happen, I call on GCash, PDAX, and our regulators to speed up the process of launching the GBonds to bring us closer and closer to achieving financial inclusion for Filipinos.

And as we push for greater retail participation and digital transformation, let me assure you that the economic team will continue fostering a stronger economy that provides favorable conditions for growth and investment.

We will do this by managing our fiscal position prudently. And with the recent enactment of the CREATE MORE, we will bring in more investments that create high-quality jobs to increase our people’s incomes, enhance their capacity to invest, and ultimately reduce poverty across the country.

And rest assured, we will use every peso invested by our people in government bonds for public projects and programs that ensure prosperity for their lives and the future of their children.

And to our GSEDs, I trust that you will remain agile and adaptive in your role as prime market movers and drivers of the Philippine development story.

Together, let us transform our capital market as a means for every business and every Filipino to be shareholders in the country’s inclusive growth.

Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat. Mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas.