Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go reiterated Sunday the need to establish a Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFil) that would cater to the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos.
(OFFICE OF SEN. BONG GO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Go also said establishing the department will contribute to the initiative of rightsizing the bureaucracy, contrary to the claims of other lawmakers critical of such initiative.
The senator insisted that DOFil, in fact, serves the purpose of rightsizing the government.
“Kapag sinabing rightsizing, ibig sabihin gawing tama at mas epektibo ang mga ahensya ng gobyerno para maigng mas responsive sa pangangailangan ng mga tao. Ito ang gusto ring maisakatuparan ng bill na ito (When you say rightsizing, it means we need to make sure government agencies are responsive to the needs of the people and can function right and in a most effective manner. This is exactly what this bill aspires to do),” Go said in a statement.
He added the proposal will not bloat the bureaucracy, but would rather streamline the functions, improve coordination, and make it more responsive to the needs of Filipinos it wishes to serve.
“Sa tagal po natin sa public service, hindi naman po lingid sa ating kaalaman na kapag po an gating mga ahensya ay hiwa-hiwalay at may kanya-kanyang mandato, ang nahihirapan po ay ang mga Pilipino (For so long we are in public service, we all know that when all agencies have their own separate mandates, it is the Filipinos who are having a difficult time),” Go said.
The lawmaker said creating the DOFil doesn’t mean having to build a whole new office from scratch but would simply merge or put together into one executive department all key offices dealing with matters related to overseas Filipinos.
He also said the proposal for the creation of DOFil seeks to remove the overlapping functions and consolidates budgetary allocations in a single government entity to provide better and more efficient services to Filipino migrants and overseas workers.
Go said that the budget allocated to agencies would be utilized for this new department and will no longer incur additional burden to the country’s financial struggles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.