‘Rightsizing’ may ‘upsize’ education, health sectors

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman (Photo from the Facebook account of the Department of Budget and Management)

The planned “rightsizing” of the bureaucracy would not necessarily slash the number of government workers as employees in the Marcos Jr. administration’s priority sectors such as education and public health services might even be “upsized,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said on Thursday.

In a radio interview, Pangandaman said that “compared to downsizing, which automatically means reduction in the number of personnel, rightsizing may also mean strengthening the requirements of an agency.”

For instance, she said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) could recommend to President Marcos the approval of a bigger budget and increased manpower to strengthen or give a bigger mandate to an important government office.

While the DBM has yet to determine which agencies needed a budgetary and staffing boost, Pangandaman said their initial studies showed that the public education and health sectors could be expanded.

Retooling

She said these priority sectors could absorb jobs to be shed from agencies to be downsized since government employees to be displaced by the rightsizing plan would be retooled and retrained for new employment.

Pangandaman said a proposed bill, to be pitched to Congress before Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 24, would seek to “give the President the power to study the bureaucracy, and review the mandate and functions of existing agencies.”

Once the bill has been passed into law, the executive branch would set a timeline to scrap, merge or create government offices, Pangandaman said. The economic team’s proposal was to give the President authority during a one-year period to rightsize the government since abolishing government agencies currently requires congressional approval which takes time.

“The President has already instructed the Cabinet to look into their respective departments for possible rightsizing, and also for positions which have been rendered redundant by digitalization efforts,” Pangandaman said, referring to Marcos’ orders during their first Cabinet meeting on July 5.

The rightsizing push would affect a total of two million positions in 187 government agencies and state-run corporations.

Backers

Two more lawmakers have backed the Palace initiative to rightsize the bureaucracy.

In a statement on Thursday, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez even urged the 19th Congress to match the initiative with a similar move.

According to Rodriguez, “this effort deserves the support of Congress. In fact, the legislature should match it with a similar undertaking.”

He noted that there were many redundant agencies, councils, offices, task forces and similar executive and legislative creations that could be abolished or merged without sacrificing the functions of the surviving entities.

“Just look at the annual budget and one will find that there are councils and offices in many departments that overlap or duplicate the functions of the bureaus or agencies under these departments,” the lawmaker pointed out, adding that overlapping of functions has also created friction between government agencies.

However, he said affected personnel should be offered additional retirement and separation benefits in addition to what they were entitled.

Rodriguez also urged Congress to go slow in acting on proposals to create new agencies until the executive branch has determined the “right size” of the bureaucracy and its proposed streamlining program is enacted into law.

“We should reduce or deny appropriations to offices the executive branch wants to phase out or merge,” he said.

Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo added that billions of pesos could be saved by “ensuring that the bureaucracy is sufficiently and optimally manned, with rationalized functions.”

Quimbo noted that under the 2022 General Appropriations Act, personnel services accounted for P1.4 trillion, or 28 percent, of the total budget.

Digital pivot

“Rightsizing means that the number of staff positions in government is sufficient to ensure that all mandates are fulfilled at the lowest possible cost. Rightsizing means that outdated and redundant positions can now be abolished, while new but necessary positions can be created,” she explained.

She added that the “key driver” for rightsizing efforts should be e-governance, saying “now is the time for government to go digital. Many inefficiencies in governance can be addressed by a digital pivot.”

“As government transactions become digital, a number of staff positions will be abolished, but at the same time, staff positions in the (information and communications technology) division will need to increase,” she said.

“Hence, rightsizing is not all about cutting jobs, but also about creating new jobs, which are more useful in a digital economy,” she pointed out.

But Quimbo said it was imperative that the government provide the necessary safety nets, such as sufficient early retirement packages and retooling programs for those who wanted to remain in public service.

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