Thank you very much, Executive Secretary Chief Luc Bersamin, for your introduction. [Please take your seats.]

The Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the Philippines Her Excellency Constance See; the members of the Cabinet who are here with us this afternoon; Civil Service Commission Chairperson Marilyn Yap; Private Sector Advisory Council that has been led by our friend Sabin Aboitiz; officials from the National University of Singapore led by its President Professor Tan Eng Chye; our friends and partners from the private sector; my fellow workers in government; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to Malacañang.

It was in June 2023 when the Private Sector Advisory Council-Digital Infrastructure Sector proposed the Philippine Civil Service Digital Leadership Program. On February 14 of this year, they revealed the collaboration of various parties to come up with this Memorandum of Agreement. Now, the early results of this initiative have come to fruition.

This month, an initial group of dedicated individuals, including 30 from the Civil Service Commission or CSC, completed their pilot training in Singapore.

They immersed themselves and brought back knowledge in understanding digital leadership, leveraging citizen-centric design, and making better decisions with data.

Between now and 2027, the Phase 2 of the program will train at least 10,000 of our civil servants.

Equipped with the necessary skills and a renewed vision for public service, these civil servants will then be catalysts in leading the digital transformation of our bureaucracy from within.

Thank you to our hardworking partners from the CSC, the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Science, and the Private Sector Advisory Council through the Private Sector Jobs and Skills Corporation for working on this extremely important initiative.

We are also grateful for the efforts of our visionary supporters, the Temasek Foundation, and the SM and the Ayala Group.

This collaboration brings us closer to realizing our shared aspiration of building a modernized public sector workforce.

It is an opportunity now for us to rethink, to innovate, and serve our people better through technology. Very important aspects in this digital age.

With this, we see a renewed success in all that we do in government and in our service to the public.

Maraming salamat po!

Mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas! [applause]

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