President Marcos has signed a law that aims to optimize the national government for efficient public service delivery.

Marcos signed Republic Act No. 12231 also known as the Government Optimization Act on Aug, 4.

The law authorizes the President to optimize the operations of the Executive Branch.

It covers all agencies of the Executive Branch, including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, and all other entities attached to or under their administrative supervision. It also covers government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) not covered by Republic Act No. 10149 or the "GOCC Governance Act of 2011".

Under the law, the President may optimize the operations of different agencies in the Executive Branch to "strengthen the functions of the agency that directly contribute to the targeted ultimate societal outcomes of the National Government and/or the targeted sector or subsector outcomes of the agency."

Marcos can also "scale down, phase out, eliminate, or discontinue functions, programs, projects, or activities that can be better carried out or undertaken by the private sector, or have already been devolved to local government units."

He can likewise "transfer or integrate functions from one agency to another which can better perform the same, or split functions of agencies, bureaus, and offices that may be conflicting or multifarious."

Under the law, Marcos can also merge or consolidate agencies whose functions are unnecessarily overlapping or duplicating; transfer agencies, units, or positions to another department, agency, or unit where their functions are more aligned; split agencies, or units with multifarious functions that are distinct but equally important aspects of governance; create new agencies, offices, or positions, as needed, to strengthen the capacity of government agencies to perform their mandate; regularize ad hoc offices whose functions are vital and significant, and must continuously be undertaken by the government; and abolish agencies or units, subject to evaluation and favorable recommendation of the Committee on Optimizing the Executive Branch (COEB).

The COEB, under the law, is being created to oversee the implementation of the Government Optimization Program.

The committee shall convene 30 days from the effectivity of the law. It will be chaired by the Executive Secretary and co-chaired by the Budget and Management Secretary.