THE Senate and the House of Representatives should also be included in the executive’s plan to streamline the government, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III yesterday said as he called on the “supermajority” bloc to heed the call of the Department of Budget and Management to give President Marcos the authority to trim the bureaucracy to save government funds.
In an interview with dzBB, Pimentel said Marcos should call on lawmakers to also streamline the two chambers, especially since the allotted budget for Congress has been ballooning every year.
“Since galing na rin ito kay President Marcos ang idea ng rightsizing, then manawagan na rin siya sa Senado at sa House of Representatives na mag-rightsize din kami. Pag sinabing rightsize, ibig sabihin, tignan niyo ang mga budget ninyo sa Senate at sa House (Since the idea of rightsizing came from President Marcos, he might as well call on the Senate and the House of Representatives that Congress be rightsized. When we say rightsize, this means we must look into our budget at the Senate and House),” Pimentel said.
“Maganda ‘yun or ipaliwanag nang mabuti saan pumupunta ang additional budget (It is best if they [lawmakers] can explain where their additional budget goes),” he also said, adding that rightsizing the bureaucracy is a good idea since there are a number of government offices with overlapping functions.
For his part, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said government workers need not worry about the plan to streamline the bureaucracy since it does not actually mean downsizing the labor force.
He said the plan refers to “simplifying office procedures” which can involve the transfer of human resources from one office to another to make the system more effective.
Laguesma said that in the private sector where he came from, rightsizing means streamlining of processes and structural reforms.
“When you talk of streamlining, it’s all about making work in a business easier and fruitful. On the other hand, structural reforms imply changes to the way the government works. I don’t see downsizing of workforce in those definitions,” Laguesma said.
