Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Saturday, Dec. 19, that he is now inclined to support proposals for the creation of the Department of Overseas Filipinos after finding that it will support his push for the rightsizing of the government.
Sotto said that of the bills filed in Senate seeking the creation of new government agencies, the proposed department for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would achieve his goal of addressing the government's bloated bureaucracy.
"'Yong department of OFW, parang sumasapol sa rightsizing, sa pag-aaral ko...Eh 'yong OWWA, POEA, magiging kasama doon, mapapaloob sa department of OFW. Eh 'di nag-rightsize tayo (The department of OFW, based on my study, appears to be appropriate for rightsizing. The Overseas Worker Welfare Administration, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, will be absorbed in the department for OFWs. We will end up rightsizing)," he told radio DWIZ.
"Pinag-aaralan ko pa pero (I am still studying it but) at the moment, I'm inclined to support because of the fact that it will rightsize the Department of Labor ," he added.
President Duterte last Dec. 15 certified as urgent one of the Senate bills seeking to establish the Department of Overseas Filipinos.
Sotto said he will discuss this with his colleagues when sessions resume on Jan. 18. Congress is currently on recess.
The Senate chief has long been pushing for the rightsizing of the government as he noted that a chunk of annual national budget goes to the wages of government employees, instead of more important government programs and services. He filed Senate Bill No. 244 containing his proposal.
During their budget deliberations last November, senators shared the view that the creation of new departments would further cause the bloating of the bureaucracy.
For this reason, members of the Senate labor committee decided last Dec. 7 to defer discussions on the proposed Department of Overseas Filipinos pending the hearing on Sotto's bill.