No moratorium on creation of new agencies – Zubiri

MANILA, Philippines — There is no need to have a moratorium in Congress on creating new departments and agencies despite the thrust of the Marcos administration to rightsize the bureaucracy, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said yesterday.

Zubiri, who is expected to be elected Senate President when the 19th Congress opens today, said he had a meeting with incoming speaker Martin Romualdez and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman where the matter of streamlining the bureaucracy was discussed.

He said he asked Pangandaman last Thursday for clarification of the policy – which might affect tens of thousands of government workers – as Congress has pending bills on the creation of new agencies such as the proposed Department of Water Resources and Department of Disaster Resilience, among others.

“It’s not forbidden to create new departments – that’s what she (Pangandaman) told me – but we must rationalize departments with overlapping functions,” Zubiri told dzBB in Filipino.

“There are departments and bureaus and offices that are not doing anything, it’s like ’15-30’. There’s duplication (of functions) or they’re no longer relevant,” he said, using the term for the practice of reporting for work only to receive salaries given on the 15th and 30th of every month.

He agreed that there is a need to rid government of “useless offices” given the expense of running the huge bureaucracy.

Former senator Franklin Drilon earlier said there should be a moratorium on the creation of new departments if the government is serious in rightsizing the bureaucracy.

Drilon suggested that Congress pass a law authorizing the executive branch to reorganize the bureaucracy instead of lawmakers tediously reviewing each law that created a particular department or office.

“But of course, we have to look at (rightsizing’s) impact on labor. There should be no mass layoffs and there should be a smooth transition,” Zubiri said.

“If there will be mass layoffs, we should fund the financial and retirement packages for them,” he said.

He said there are many government workers willing to retire as long as they are given fair retirement packages.