A measure espousing rightsizing in government--one of the main calls of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.--has been passed on second reading in the House of Representatives.
Approved on second reading during plenary session Wednesday, March 8 was House Bill (HB) No.7240, or the proposed National Government Rightsizing Program.
Deputy Speaker and Ilocos Sur 2nd district Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan, who presided over the session, announced the bill’s second-reading passage after a simple voice vote (ayes vs. nayes). The ayes drowned out the nayes.
Identified as a priority legislation of the Marcos administration, HB No.7240, provides the "reform mechanism" by which the government's institutional capacity to deliver services to Filipinos would be improved.
The measure, if enacted, will give the Philippine president the power to introduce changes in the organizational structure of agencies through the proposed Committee on Rightsizing.
The Committee on Rightsizing will be chaired by the Executive Secretary. The secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), chairman of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), and director-general of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA).
The proposed National Government Rightsizing Program will cover all agencies under the executive branch, including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC).
As for the other branches of government like the legislative and the judiciary; and constitutional commissions, and the Office of the Ombudsman, they may implement their own rightsizing programs based on the guidelines of the proposed law and the Unified Position Classification and Compensation System.
However, they are not obligated to do so.
Not recovered by the rightsizing are teaching-related positions in elementary, secondary, technical vocational schools,
Hindi naman kasama sa rightsizing ang teaching o teaching related positions sa elementarya, sekondarya technical vocational schools, state universities and colleges (SUCs), and non-chartered tertiary schools; medical items in hospitals and medical facilities; and military or uniformed personnel in the Department of National Defense (DND), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and Department of Justice (DOJ)
Employees that will be affected by the rightsizing will be given retirement benefits, separation incentives, and retooling for their possible reappointment or reemployment.
The bill further provides that a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee would be formed and tasked to make evaluations of the implementation of rightsizing.