‘Inventory of government staff, posts needed before rightsizing’

MANILA, Philippines — A rigorous inventory of the staff and positions in the government must be undertaken before implementing the rightsizing of the bureaucracy, according to Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo.

In an interview with “The Chiefs” aired on One News last Monday night, Quimbo said a thorough assessment of every government office must be done to get a clear picture of the bureaucracy.

“It will require getting a list of the positions to determine if there is a need to have additional position or abolish a certain position. If we shift to digital technology, for instance, most likely we have to create new staff positions that require new skill sets,” she added.

The lawmaker noted that at present, there is no data on “baseline situation” in the government, which is needed to jumpstart the rightsizing.

Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier announced that the DBM is supporting a proposal to rightsize the government to have a lean, efficient and responsive workforce.

Pangandaman claimed that this is intended to achieve a smaller but “agile and responsive” bureaucracy that is responsive to the modern times.

Quimbo said the goal of rightsizing is to have an “optimal size of the bureaucracy” to utilize the least number of resources, but without compromising the mandate of a certain government agency.

The lawmaker, however, acknowledged that the situations in different agencies could differ, with one agency overstaffed while another is not.

“Rightsizing means we really have to study it thoroughly. There should be no more, no less, no outdated positions, no redundant positions. Positions that can be consolidated but are being done by two or three persons, why not consolidate them so we can have savings?” she said.

She added that to prevent the displacement of employees, two mechanisms could be employed: retirement or early retirement and “retooling.”

Quimbo maintained that employees holding positions that have been identified for abolition could be offered to retire.

On the other hand, “retooling” could be an option for those holding positions that will be affected by digitalization.

“There are certain positions that are manual that may have to be abolished if the agency makes the determination that they can better fulfill their mandate if they go digital… If we go digital and assert that some positions may have to be abolished, most likely, new positions will have to be created,” the lawmaker said.

She added that what is important is to get the “right mix” that will be beneficial to taxpayers who are not satisfied with the services of the government.