Vice President Sara Duterte expressed full support for President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s program to rightsize government functions and thereby streamline the government bureaucracy and its services.
However, she also noted that it would be difficult to rightsize the entire government, referring to the proposal by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to soon determine which of the 187 government agencies, including state-owned companies, have repetitive or overlapping functions that the administration can cut down by merging, restructuring or abolition.
“I think it’s a good direction sa ating Pangulo para po nare-review natin kung lahat ba ng mga empleyado at lahat ba ng mga posisyon ay useful siya (for our president so we can review if all the employees and positions are useful),” she said during a media interview on Thursday, July 14, in Manila.
Duterte, who was mayor of her hometown Davao City for two terms before running and winning as vice president, shared her own experiences in rightsizing government positions and agencies.
“I don’t see it happening in the short term dahil mahirap po mag rightsize ng buong government (because it is difficult to rightsize the whole) government,” she explained, adding that she had a hard time doing it in Davao City.
Duterte reportedly restructured functions and re-appointed city hall officials when she took over as mayor.
The DBM rightsizing proposal, which already received support from lawmakers, will affect two million jobs, but will save the government some P14.8 billion annually in government expenditure.
Duterte said this has already been discussed with President Marcos during the Cabinet meeting, and they just have to wait for the guidelines if the policy will be implemented.