The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) should prove the necessity of passing the bill seeking to rightsize government by presenting the data lawmakers have been asking to justify the measure.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said that while he sees the “benefit and wisdom” of the proposed law, Senate Bill No. 890 or the Rightsizing the National Government Act of 2022, lawmakers need to be wary of its possible outcome given that Congress will have to delegate powers to the President to rightsize or optimize government bureaucracy.
“In this bill, we will be giving the President the power to remove, to abolish offices, merge offices, downsize or rightsize offices, or also increase the number of offices.
“There are offices that were created by law. If this bill becomes a law, the President will have the right to abolish those offices even though they were created by law. So does this mean that the delegated powers to be given the President would be absolute? That’s why it’s important to clarify the provisions from the very start and to check how this bill would be beneficial to all of us,” Gatchalian said in Filipino during a Kapihan sa Senado forum.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Gatchalian has asked the DBM to provide the Senate a copy of their cost benefit analysis and impact study on SB 890.
Escudero, author and sponsor of the bill, said the measure seeks to address supposed studies showing that “the governmental organization is bloated and overstaffed with overlapping or fragmented functions which already requires reorganization, streamlining and/or reconfiguration.”
According to the DBM, the government could save up to P8.7 billion if this bill that grants President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. the authority to rightsize the bureaucracy, is enacted into law.
However, even Escudero also questioned the costs with regard to separation fees and when the proposed P8.7 billion savings would be realized.
Gatchalian said “the ball is now on the DBM” to prove the feasibility of the measure, given that some sectors in government are opposed to the measure and have expressed their concerns on the impact of the bill to rank-and-file state workers.
“But I do agree in principle, i agree there is a need to rightsize (government) because there are offices that are already obsolete and no longer attuned to the times,” he said.
“But we need to be careful because we are delegating powers…I also need to see the studies first,” he added.
Nevertheless, Gatchalian said he believes those who must be exempted from the rightsizing bill must be those in the teaching and non teaching profession and uniformed personnel.
“They should be exempted because they are in a very dynamic situation…
the rest should be subjected to rightsizing,” he said.