Militant solons say bill to rightsize gov’t may lead to layoffs, contractualization

by Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Inquirer, Jul 27, 2017

Militant lawmakers on Thursday decried the House of Representatives’ approval of a bill rightsizing the government to improve the delivery of public services, saying this may result in massive layoffs of government workers.

In a statement, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said the bill for rightsizing government through integration of offices and abolition of non-performing offices only paves the way for contractualization in government.

“Rightsizing is just a neoliberal euphemism for more contractualization of public sector jobs and privatization of basic services. Ergo, more profit for big business,” Zarate said.

Zarate said rightsizing the government is an “affront to the security of tenure of public sector workers in the guise of efficiency.”

Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao for his part said the rightsizing program, mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte in his second State of the Nation Address (Sona), will result in “massive disenfranchisement or termination of thousands of government workers.”

“This will also worsen the sorry state of hundreds of thousand contractuals in different national departments, bureaus, agencies. While it is worthy to agree on the premise of efficient delivery of service, rightsizing is not the only way to achieve the latter,” Casilao said.

Act Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro also slammed the rightsizing program claiming “this will be no different from the rationalization schemes of past administrations which caused untold damages to government workers and to public service.”

In a joint statement, the teachers’ representatives said rightsizing would only worsen the delivery of public services because government workers would be burdened with a heavier workload.

“Rightsizing will further deteriorate public services since necessary personnel complement in frontline offices will be thinned. Those who will remain in government service, including teaching and medical positions which allegedly ‘will not be affected,’ will not be spared as they will be forced to shoulder heavier workloads,” Tinio and Castro said in their statement.

Tinio and Castro also called the rightsizing program as part of the Duterte administration’s “continuing neoliberal policy framework of cutbacks on government social spending and attacks on jobs and job security and public sector union rights.”

“Instead of firing people, what the Duterte administration has to do to is just to adequately fund its programs, fill up vacancies, and create more plantilla positions. Instead of removing regular employees, it should give tenure to non-regular employees and provide for their benefits,” they added.

The militant lawmakers made the statement after the lower House on Wednesday night approved with 230 affirmative, six negative and zero abstentions House Bill 5707 entitled “An Act rightsizing the national government to improve public service delivery.”

The six lawmakers who opposed the bill are members of the Makabayan bloc.

The bill would cover all agencies of the executive branch, including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, and all other entities attached to or under their administrative supervisions; as well as government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) not covered by Republic Act No. 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.

The bill states that it would be optional for the following government agencies to rightsize its organization—the legislature, judiciary, the Constitutional Commissions, the Office of the Ombudsman, and even the Local Government Units (LGUs) as long as it would be consistent with the Local Government Code.

According to the bill, the President in rightsizing the executive branch has the authority to “scale down, phase out, eliminate or discontinue functions, programs, projects, that can better be carried out or undertaken by the private sector, or have already been devolved to the local government unit.”

The President also has the authority to “transfer/integrate functions from one agency to another which can better perform the same.”

The chief executive has the power to “merge or consolidate agencies whose functions are necessarily overlapping or duplicating and can be undertaken by a single entity,” and even “split agencies with multifarious functions which are deemed distinct and equally serve important aspects of governance.”

The President, according to the bill, can “transfer offices to other agencies wherein their functions are more aligned,” and “abolish agencies which functions are already redundant or no longer relevant or necessary…; which are no longer achieving the objectives and purposes for which they were originally created; which are not cost-effective…; and/or which have already become non-operational, dormant, and/or outlived their purposes.”

The bill also seeks to create a Committee on Rightsizing the Executive Branch to oversee the implementation of this new program.

Meanwhile, permanent personnel who may be affected by the rightsizing are entitled to retirement benefits and separation incentives. The personnel who opt not to retire may be deployed by the Civil Service Commission to other government agencies which would need their skills.

The personnel who retire or are separated from the service arising from the rightsizing program should not be reemployed in any agency of the executive branch and the GOCCs for a period of five years, unless they apply for a teaching or medical staff in educational institutions and hospitals.

The bill, however, has a sunset provision, where the power of the President and the committee to rightsize the government would only last three years after effectivity of the Act.

In the President’s Sona, Duterte called on Congress for the speedy passage of the bill rightsizing the government

“I am reiterating my directive to all government agencies from frontline services to our people from womb to tomb — to further streamline their respective services to make these truly efficient and people-friendly. We want to ensure that our people receive the quality services that they deserve, minus the delays caused by bureaucratic red tape,” Duterte said.

“I expect speedy reforms along this line. We will right size the national government. Let us trim the excess fat and add more muscle through the expeditious passage of ‘The Act Rightsizing the National Government to Improve Public Service Delivery and for other Purposes.’ I therefore urge Congress to pass this at the soonest,” he added. JPV/rga