MANILA, Philippines — The Senate leadership ensured on Wednesday that the proposal on the rightsizing of the national government will be prioritized by the chamber to ensure its passage before the 19th Congress adjourns its session in June.
In a statement, Senate President Chiz Escudero, who is also the author and sponsor of Senate Bill No. 890 or the Rightsizing National Government Act, explained what rightsizing is.
“Rightsizing is about streamlining the bureaucracy. It also means the possible creation of new positions, new offices, upgrading and upscaling personnel to help them fill up much needed positions and put them on the path toward career advancement,” said Escudero.
READ: Senate urged to approve gov’t rightsizing measure
“The objective of rightsizing for me is not about saving money. It’s being able to deliver services to the people more efficiently,” he added.
Escudero said they intend to pass the measure before the 19th Congress adjourns its sessions. Congress resumes its sessions on January 13 and will go on break from February 8 to June 1 for the campaign period of the May 2025 midterm elections.
Sessions resume on June 2 and will go on until June 13 when the 19th Congress adjourns sine die.
Concerns raised
But despite the Senate leadership’s pronouncement, some lawmakers—among them Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian—have raised their concerns about the measure’s passage.
In a Kapihan sa Senado forum also on Wednesday, Gatchalian said he is very concerned about the passage of the measure considering the absence of a cost benefit analysis and impact study on it.
“For now, I have a big concern, because there is an administration bill as pronounced yesterday by the Senate president but there is no cost benefit analysis, no impact study,” said Gatchalian.
“Parang suntok sa buwan ito eh (It seems impossible),” he added.
Gatchalian then explained that pursuant to the measure, Congress will delegate powers to the President in order for him to rightsize and make the government bureaucracy optimal.
“The delegated powers that will be given to the President are really powerful, so it is important to be clear from the beginning [at the very beginning] what will be the benefits for all of us [and] what will be the result of the rightsizing or optimization of the government bureaucracy and also clear to the if there is any savings, how much savings will be generated by this law because the power that will be delegated to our President is very broad,” he emphasized.
He then noted that these powers may also be abused, considering how vast it is.
“We also have to remember that these powers can also be abused. If you have the power to merge, if you have the power to abolish, if you don’t like a person or agency, you can remove them. So it must be clear and we must be careful so that this power will not be used for abuse,” Gatchalian explained.