By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
PASIG CITY — Department of Education-National Employees Union (DepEd-NEU) National President Atty. Domingo Alidon on Wednesday (Jan. 8) said that rightsizing of the government bureaucracy should result in effective delivery of quality public service.This was the reaction of Atty. Alidon on the proposal of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the rightsizing through streamlining of the bloated bureaucracy, especially those government offices with overlapping functions.
According to the DBM, the government stands to save P8.7 billion with the implementation of the rightsizing
During the Senate hearing in rightsizing on Tuesday (Jan. 7), Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said that before such amount of savings can be realized, the government still have to spend billions of pesos for those who would avail of the early retirement because of the rightsizing.
In an interview, Atty. Alidon said that the previous reorganization plan (RatPlan) of the past administration even resulted in the creation of new offices and staffing pattern.
Atty. Alidon added that such a rightsizing might be a “condition” imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order for the Philippines to obtain a new foreign loan.
According to the Bureau of the Treasury, as of December 2024, the country has an outstanding loans of P16.04 Trillion.
Atty. Alidon noted that there are 42,000 public schools nationwide which require 1 to 2 school teachers for every classroom.
He stressed that there are “ancillary functions” which the teachers cannot anymore perform.
Atty. Alidon proposed that there should be a creation of new additional staffing plantiila to perform such ancillary and administrative functions.
Likewise, Atty. Alidon said that there are presently 12 DepEd Undersecretaries and 11 Assistant Secretaries.
Republic Act 91155 provides, however, that there should only be 4 DepEd Undersecretaries and 4 Assistant Secretaries, and the Administrative Code of the Philippines and Executive Order No. 366, or the “RatPlan”, both provide for only 4 DepEd Undersecretaries and 4 Assistant Secretaries.
It is already a Judicial notice and there’s no need for the court to declare that such a fact already exists.
It can be recalled that in 1996, then President Gloria Macapaga-Arroyp issued Executive Order No. 366 implementing the Rationalization Program in the government bureaucracy.
