CSC vows ‘thorough study’ of government rightsizing

MANILA, Philippines — Rightsizing the bureaucracy, however it may be proposed before Congress, would require a thorough study by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

In a statement issued yesterday, the CSC underscored that the aim to trim down the number of employees in government should not undermine the services delivered by the concerned offices.

“The Commission assures everyone that it will thoroughly study any proposed legislation on rightsizing the bureaucracy and provide its inputs, with the welfare of civil servants and the effective delivery of service to the public as its primordial considerations,” the CSC statement read.

Last Wednesday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman revealed that the Marcos administration is planning to rationalize the functions of 187 national government agencies (NGAs) and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) which currently have a total of two million personnel.

Pangandaman said the planned rationalization or streamlining of the NGAs and GOCCs may be done through merger, restructuring or abolition of some non-performing or redundant offices.

She said that the funds to be saved from the planned rightsizing will be used for priority projects such as infrastructure, social services, agriculture and health-related programs.

Pangandaman said President Marcos intends to submit to Congress his administration’s proposal to rightsize the government before his first State of the National Address on July 25.

“The Civil Service Commission understands and accepts the changes and challenges brought about by the global pandemic and current events on health, the economy and other factors that affect the life and livelihood of our people,” the CSC said.

The commission added that it “supports any move that would ensure greater efficiency in public sector administration and build an agile and future-ready civil service.”

‘Stop creating new agencies’

Chiming in yesterday, former senator Franklin Drilon said moves to rightsize the bureaucracy must be accompanied by a moratorium on the creation of new departments and agencies.

“If we’re serious about rightsizing the government, there must be a moratorium on the creation of new agencies… there should be a freeze on the creation of new agencies,” Drilon told radio dzBB.

He recalled attempts during the 17th Congress to pass a bill to streamline the bureaucracy that included then budget secretary Benjamin Diokno as one of the proponents, but many lawmakers were pushing for the creation of numerous departments.

Some members of the Senate and the House of Representatives have filed bills seeking the creation of new agencies, including the Department of Water, Department of Disaster Resilience, Center for Disease Control, Virology Institute and the Department of Technical Education and Training.

Drilon expressed support for Pangandaman’s proposal for Congress to pass a law to allow the abolition or downsizing of certain government agencies, pointing out that a third of the national budget goes to paying salaries.

However, the three-time former Senate president admitted that retrenching public employees, even if they are redundant, is difficult to do because of the high joblessness in the country.

“The reality is... the government is the biggest employer. That’s why it’s difficult to retrench or rightsize because of the fear of the loss of jobs,” Drilon said.

Mass retrenchment

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro expressed fears of mass retrenchment and the worsening of labor contractualization if rightsizing the bureaucracy will be pushed by Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“The rightsizing of national government agencies is no different from the rationalization schemes of past administrations which caused untold damage to government workers and to public service,” Castro said.

“It is not true that rightsizing government bureaucracy ‘will not affect’ teachers and health care workers as they will be forced to shoulder tasks of education support personnel and support staff of health facilities,” she said.

By trimming the number of employees, the government will have to hire more and more personnel on contracts of service and job orders “who will not be considered as government employees and will not be paid the salaries and job security as such,” said the party-list lawmaker.

“DBM wants to save P14 billion in exchange for the jobs and security of tenure of two million Filipinos that would be affected by this proposal,” Castro said.?She said government should just answer the “just demand of government employees and workers for salary increase and regularization.”

Yesterday, it was learned that six House members, including Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, have authored a bill that seeks to declare barangay leaders as regular government employees.

The measure known as House Bill 502 is co-authored by Duterte, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap, Quezon City Rep. Ralph Tulfo and ACT-CIS party-list Representatives Jocelyn Tulfo, Jeffrey Soriano and Edvic Yap.

Duterte said the barangay “serves as the office of first resort of the people, and is expected to address a number of issues apart from their regular duties and responsibilities.”

“It is high time that our barangay officials be given what is due for them and recognize their vital role in carrying out government activities to the communities,” he said.

Under the bill, barangay leaders will be provided a fixed salary and be declared as regular government employees in order for them to receive just compensation and other benefits government employees enjoy.

At present, the barangay chairman and members of the barangay council are receiving compensation in the form of honorarium and not a fixed salary.

The same measure seeks to have barangay officials covered by benefits under the Government Service Insurance System, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG Fund. – Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo