The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has clarified that the government’s rightsizing plan would not automatically mean reduction in the number of personnel in government agencies.

Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said on Thursday, July 14, that compared to downsizing which automatically means reduction in the number of personnel, rightsizing may also mean strengthening the requirements of an agency.

“In rightsizing, there are offices which will be possibly strengthened, strengthened by given them wider mandate and with possible additional personnel and budget,” Pangandaman said.

Asked what agencies may undergo strengthening, she stated that there are no definite identified agencies.

“The law, which is still being prepared, aims to give the President the power to study the bureaucracy and review the mandate and functions of existing agencies,” Pangandaman said.

“Once the executive has been given that power, we’ll have a timeline for agencies that could be abolished, merged and created,” she added.

Moreover, Pangandaman said the government plans to further strengthen education and health sectors through hiring of additional personnel.

Government personnel who would be displaced by the rightsizing may be transferred to “upsized” agencies, the budget chief said.

“We can have a pool for the displaced personnel who will eventually transfer to other offices. We will have retooling and training programs so that we can put them in another agency,” Pangandaman said.

According to the DBM chief, the President has already instructed the Cabinet to look into their respective departments for possible rightsizing and also for positions which have been rendered redundant by digitalization efforts.

“The President, during our first Cabinet meeting, has instruction to all Cabinet members to already look into their specific departments that could be streamlined,” Pangandaman said.
She said President Marcos’ instruction includes embarking to digitalization.

Pangandaman also clarified that the two million mentioned was not the actual job cuts but rather the total number government employees and the five percent mentioned is not a target but an example to highlight a point.

“The two million is the population, which we call ‘universe’ of government employees. These are all the positions in government, and the five percent was just an example,” she said.

But assuming five percent of the two million government personnel will be reduced, Pangandaman said “that's 14-billion worth of savings for our personnel services.”

“And the said savings can be allocated to other priority programs and projects of the government like healthcare, agriculture support, infrastructure and others,” Pangandaman added.