A “reorganization bill” is being drafted to restructure the Department of National Defense (DND), Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. revealed Monday, July 24.
Teodoro said the DND will help in crafting the bill and he hopes they can find a sponsor for the legislation after the opening session of the Congress on the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The details of the proposed bill have yet to be discussed in detail by Teodoro but he said this would help them to recruit more employees to meet the demands of the workload at the DND.
“Based on past experience, isinama ito sa amendments ng National Defense Act as a whole pero hindi gaanong umuusad kaya atin pong hihiwalayin at hinuhubog namin ang reorganization bill (Based on past experience, this was included in the amendments to the National Defense Act as a whole but it did not prosper so we will separate it and we are honing the reorganization bill),” Teodoro said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
The Defense Chief noted that the capability of the DND should be able to adapt to the “evolving threats” being faced by the country.
“Ang baseline dito, kailangan namin ng mas maraming tao at mas maraming kagamitan upang ma-manage ang limang (sic) ahensiya sa ilalim namin nang tama (The baseline here is that we need more people and equipment to appropriately manage the five [sic] agencies under us),” Teodoro said.
Teodoro did not mention the number of military and civilian workers and personnel at the DND and the six bureaus that it manages namely the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), Government Arsenal (GA), and Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).
However, he said it was simply not match compared to the volume of work that the DND needs to do.
“Sa ngayon, napakababa ng ratio ng empleyado namin at ng mga co-workers namin dito sa departamento kung ihahambing natin sa laki ng halaga ng responsibilidad namin, sa equipment, etc. at saka sa dami ng stakeholders (Right now, the ratio of our employees and co-workers in the department is too low compared to the magnitude of our responsibility, our equipment, etc. and the number of our stakeholders),” Teodoro stated.
Teodoro previously shared that among the reforms that he wants to implement as the Defense Chief includes having a separate capital outlay for the DND. Capital outlay refers to money that is spent to maintain, upgrade, acquire, or repair fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land.
He had also said that he supports the adaption of reforms in the pension scheme of unformed personnel for the benefit of the retirees, the current workforce, and the aspiring soldiers.
“Tayo po ay magpo-propose ng AFP retirement fund scheme upang nang sa gayon ay masigurado ang pinakamagandang mga benepisyo sa ating kasundaluhan, masigurado na walang patid ang mga benepisyo na tinatanggap ng ating retirees (We will propose an AFP retirement fund scheme to ensure the best benefits for our soldiers, and ensure that the benefits of our retirees will not be stopped),” he stated.
Several bills at the Senate had been filed in the previous years which sought for the restructuring of the DND, including Senate Bill No. 2917 filed by Senator Jinggoy Estrada in 2011 during the 15th Congress.
The bill was aimed at reorganizing the defense structure with reforms that would “define the very strength of its leadership, its relevance to present and future challenges and one that would strengthen civilian authority.”
At present, Teodoro said the reorganization bill that the DND is crafting will be a product of a “process-based consensus” within the DND and its bureaus.
“At sana ito’y matapos namin pagkatapos ng opening ng session at makahanap kami ng sponsor, at makafile kami ng draft bill sa tamang panahon (And we hope we can finish it by the end of the opening session and we can find a sponsor and file the draft bill when the right time comes),” he said.