Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (PPAB)

The proposed National Government Rightsizing Act that the House of Representatives approved spares teachers, healthcare providers, soldiers and other uniformed personnel in state agencies from the plan to rightsize the bureaucracy. 

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte highlighted this as he prodded senators to act on their counterpart measure once the 19th Congress reopens on Jan. 22 afterits five-week holiday break. 

Earlier passed on third and final reading by the House was House Bill (HB) No.7240, or “The National Government Rightsizing Act". 

The measure makes it optional for the Congress; judiciary; state universities and colleges governmentunits (SUCs); Office of the Ombudsman, and other constitutional commissions; and local government units (LGUs) to implement their own rightsizing plans, Villafuerte said. 

This rightsizing proposal shall be carried out over a three-year period, and provides for retirement benefits and separation incentives to would-be affected workers, said Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party (NUP) and one of the authors of this substitute bill. 

In recognition of the important role of certain government positions in society, Section 4 of the bill excludes the following from this streamlining move: 

• Teaching and teaching-related positions in elementary, secondary, technical/vocational schools, state universities and colleges, and non-chartered tertiary schools; 

• Medical and allied-medical items in hospitals and other medical facilities servicing agency clients; and 

• Military and uniformed personnel in the Departments of National Defense (DND), of the Interior and Local Government (DILG),  of Transportation (DOTr), of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and of Justice (DOJ). 

HB No.7240 proposes “to rationalize the operations of offices from and among various government offices having related functions, through streamlining the positions of offices in the government bureaucracy,” he said. 

To streamline public service delivery and cut unnecessary state expenses, Villafuerte explained that the bill “proposes to give the President the authority to abolish, create and transfer offices within the NG (National Government), including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, and all other entities attached to or under their administrative supervision". 

The bill proposes the creation of a Committee on Rightsizing the National Government to oversee the implementation of this streamlining plan, he said. 

This proposed committee shall be chaired by the Executive Secretary, with the secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) as co-chairperson; and the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairperson and director-general of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) as members. 

President Marcos, in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2022, sought the congressional passage of the National Government Rightsizing Program (NGRP) to improve the government’s institutional capacity to perform its mandate and provide better services to the people while at the same time optimizing the efficient use of state resources. 

Following the House’s approval of this bill on third and final reading earlier this year, President Marcos ordered the further assessment of the current set-up in the executive department to determine redundant positions and functions that could be merged. 

The Senate must pass its own measure for an NGRP for it to become a law.