Streamline Government Bureaucracy to Prevent Wastage of Limited Resources

There’s a growing need to reorganize and streamline the entire government bureaucracy to prevent wasting limited resources, neophyte party-list lawmakers stressed.

“Sound expenditure management in the bureaucracy has become more important through the years as government resources have become limited and the needs of society inexhaustible.” MAGDALO Party-list Reps. Francisco Ashley L. Acedillo and Gary C. Alejano stressed.

Acedillo and Alejano are co-authors of HB 24 filed in July 2013 and under consideration by the House Committee on Government Reorganization chaired by Rep. Romeo Acop (2nd District, Antipolo City).

HB 24 is entitled “An Act Reorganizing the Government Bureaucracy, creating a Government Reorganization Commission, Defining its powers and functions and for other purposes,” to be known as the “Government Reorganization Act of 2013.”

The proposed Government Reorganization Commission shall undertake studies and propose measures to abolish, merge, integrate, transfer, regroup, or restructure departments, bureaus, offices, government-owned and controlled corporations and other agencies of the Executive Branch in order to eliminate overlapping and/or fragmentation of functions related to programs and activities, the authors pointed out.

“The present set-up of the government made it a significant contributor to the tremendous waste of resources in the Philippine economy,” they lamented.

Acedillo and Alejano explained that by focusing the government’s limited resources on the provision of basic services, the government would effectively reduce poverty and possibly bring about the economic resurgence of the country.

“However, Massive trimming down of the bureaucracy is needed to do away with the unnecessary and redundant appendages of the government,” they pointed out.

Under HB 24, the members of the proposed Commission shall include:
1) chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization, who will be its chairman;
2) Chairman of the House committee on Government Reorganization, who will be a co-vice chairman;
3) chairman of the House committee on Civil Service, who will be co-vice chairman;
4) Three (3) majority members of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization;
5) One (1) minority member of the said Senate committee;
6) One (1) majority member of the House Committee on Government reorganization;
7) One (1) majority member of the House committee on Civil Service;
8) One (1) minority member of the House Committee on Civil Service and/or Government Reorganization;
9) Chairman and two (2) members of the Civil Service Commission;
10) Representatives from the private sector to be appointed by the President; and
11) Representatives from a recognized government employees organization to be nominated by members of such organization.

The Commission is mandated to pursue a survey of the government bureaucracy and draft a plan of reorganization of all entities and offices of the Executive branch of government.

Covered are all departments and their respective attached agencies, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, authorities, including government-owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges, and all other instrumentalities of the Executive branch.

SOURCE: Media Relations Service, Public Relations and Information Bureau