RESEARCH PAPER:

IMPORTANCE OF RIGHTSIZING OF POSITIONS IN

THE GOVERNMENT AND HOW IT WILL
CONTRIBUTE TO THE WORK EFFICIENCY
OF PERSONNEL

(In partial fulfillment of the academic requirements in

MPA 201: Philippine Administrative System)

Submitted by:

GEMINE AILNA P. NUEVO

G18-0043

Submitted to:

MR. RAUL DE GUZMAN, LLB, MPA

Professor
INTRODUCTION

In today’s era of public administration, there are calls from every sector for transformation. This
has led to the call for introducing changes and reforms in the civil service. Such changes and
reforms also call for the need to attune human resource development to the needs of the times. In
response to this call, a number of civil service reforms and changes have been initiated by the
government. These calls also raise a sense that the current system of administration are not
sustainable and need to be reinvented or reengineered, and public service everywhere are feeling
pressure to make fundamental course changes to “right size” their operations.

One of the civil service reform strategies that has been adopted and applied by the Philippine
government is reorganization. The assumption is that government or the bureaucracy has become
very inefficient and ineffective because of its size. Others would contend that it has become bloated
with so many personnel who cost much and did little. This has led to the effort of reducing the size
of the bureaucracy by abolishing structures or units that are seen to be non-functional in terms of
the vision and mission of the organization; by merging offices or units to avoid duplication of
functions and thus reduce cost; or by creating units or offices that would cater particularly to
specific concerns and needs of the clients.

Based on the Department of Budget and Management Staffing Summary, the number of
government personnel has grown from 1,108, 856 in 2005 to 1,244, 931 in 2015 or a growth of
12.27%. For the same period, the total number of permanent positions in government has increased
from 1,150,681 in 2005 to 1,433,186 by 2015, or a growth of 24.55%. The corresponding
expenditures have also ballooned: the actual expenditures of the government for personal services
(PS) have expanded from P295.18 billion in 2005 to P682.62 billion in 2015, or an equivalent of
131.26%.

Studies have shown that the existing governmental organization is bloated and overstaffed, with
redundant offices and overlapping or fragmented or ambiguous functions. The situation calls for
the rightsizing of the bureaucracy to promote effectiveness, efficiency and economy in the delivery
of services to the people. Streamlining the operations of departments/agencies is also needed to
achieve the government’s goal of maintaining a well-functioning system of governance. There is
a need to rationalize the existing machinery, reconfigure the organization, contain the costs and
expenditures, and streamline operations in order to fulfil the constitutional mandate of the civil
service and maximize the role of the public sector in national development.

In the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Message, the President expressed concern over the size of the
bureaucracy. Specifically, he noted that, although the expansion of the bureaucracy is a response
to the growing demand of public services, “there is still fat in government that we must trim.”
Thus, one of the main concern areas of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council
(LEDAC) and the administration of President Duterte is to implement a rightsizing of the
bureaucracy through House Bill No. 5707 (HB 5707), and Senate Bill No. 1395 (SB 1395). Its
objective is to create a leaner, efficient and effective government by reducing or, if possible,
eliminate redundancies, overlaps and duplications in existing agencies, rules and regulations,
systems and processes.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This paper aims to answer the following research questions:

1. What is rightsizing?
2. What are the current efforts in rightsizing the Philippine Bureaucracy?
3. What are the other reorganization or streamlining in Philippine Bureaucracy?
4. What are the importance of right sizing the positions in the government and how it will
contribute to the work efficiency of government personnel?

The main objective of this study is to know the importance of rightsizing the positions in the
government and how it will contribute to the work efficiency of government personnel. This study
will focus on the history of streamlining efforts in the Philippine Bureaucracy as well as the efforts
in rightsizing the positions in the government through the proposed Senate Bill (SB) No. 13952
with the title “An Act Rightsizing the National Government to Improve Public Service Delivery
and for Other Purposes.

APPLICABLE THEORIES AND RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDY

Rightsizing

Rightsizing implies the organization’s ability in determining and maintaining right size of the
employment in an organization in order to achieve efficiency and competitive advantage.
Implicitly in concept of rightsizing, it is assumed that the organization being downsized is
essentially over-staffed and that performance levels can be maintained or even improved by
reducing the number of the employees. The term rightsizing is often synonymously used as
euphemism for downsizing. It is also commonly called as “re-organizing, re-engineering,
restructuring, or downsizing.”

In literature, researchers described rightsizing from three different perspective:

1. Rightsizing is a way of responding quickly to bad economic conditions which led to more
workload, market stagnation and job security issues (Bennett 1991, Baumohl 1993)
2. As a part of revamping and restructuring business operations strategy, even active and
effective organizations proactively rightsized their workforce to achive competitive
advantage.
3. Rightsizing is a response to external influences (Schuler & Jackson, 1987) like laws of
land, government regulations, economic slowdown, competition, etc. and it is a means to
survive their business operation in changing business environment

Current Efforts of Rightsizing the Philippine Bureaucracy

On March 15, 2017, Senate Bill (SB) No. 13952 was filed with the title “An Act Rightsizing the
National Government to Improve Public Service Delivery and for Other Purposes.” Sec. 2 of this
bill reads:
 “It is hereby declared the policy of the State to promote and
maintain effectiveness, efficiency and economy in the government,
and enhance institutional capacity to improve public service
delivery, and to ensure the attainment of the country’s societal and
economic development goals and objectives. Consistent with this,
the government shall focus its functions and resources on the
essential role, scope, and level of governance, and minimize, if not
eliminate, redundancies, overlaps and duplications in its operations
and simplify its rules and regulations, and systems and processes.”

The bill aims to address government dysfunctions such as: (1) Agencies with redundant,
duplicating or overlapping functions; (2) Agencies that have outlived their purposes; and, (3)
Agency functions that could be better undertaken by the private sector or devolved to Local
Government Units

This would be done by minimizing and eliminating overlaps and duplication, and rationalizing
delivery and support systems, organizational structures and staffing within department/agency to
focus government efforts on its vital functions and channel resources to these core public services.
Doing this will ensure the effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness and progressiveness in the
delivery of government goods and services.

The Rightsizing Act proposedly applies to all departments and agencies of the Executive Branch
and GOCCs covered by DBM. Those excluded in the Rightsizing Program are: (1) teaching and
teaching-related positions in schools; (2) medical and allied-medical in hospitals and medical
facilities; (3) military and uniformed personnel; and, (4) positions in government-owned and
controlled corporations (GOCC)/ government financial institutions (GFI) covered by the
Government Commission on GOCCs (GCG). For the Congress of the Philippines, Judiciary,
Constitutional Offices, Office of the Ombudsman, Local Government Units (LGUs) the
Rightsizing Program is optional.

The Rightsizing bill also proposes the basis of the review of the role and activities of government
and be Constitutional mandates, political and socio-economic objectives of government, and
available resources. A unique aspect of the Rightsizing program is that the review of the role,
functions, programs and projects of agencies will cut across various NGAs. Though there have
been efforts in the past three decades such as Executive Orders No. 292 and 366 that suggested
reviewing duplicative/overlapping functions across NGAs and departments, there is continuing
need to review these. Furthermore, E.O. 366 or the Rationalization Program, resulted in strategic
review of NGAs within a department while the Rightsizing Program plans to implement
transformational initiatives such as merger, consolidation, splitting, transfer and abolition of
offices across departments (Ferrer 2018).

A Committee on Rightsizing the Executive Branch will be created to oversee the implementation
of the Program, composed of the Executive Secretary as Chairman, and the Secretary of Budget
and Management as Co-Chairman, with the Secretary of Socio-Economic Planning, Chairperson
of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), and the Head of the Presidential Management Staff, as
members. There will also be a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to oversee, monitor and
evaluate the implementation of the Act to be composed of five members each from the Senate and
from the House of Representatives.

The passage of the bill would provide the President of the Philippines with the authority to rightsize
the Executive Branch in accordance with the guiding principles, policies, standards and guidelines
under this proposed legislative measure.

Under Section 17, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, the President has control of all the
executive departments, bureaus, and offices. Section 312 of the Administrative Code of 1987
echoes this by vesting in the President the continuing authority to reorganize the offices under him
in order to achieve simplicity, economy, and efficiency.

However, in the process of streamlining and identifying overlaps or redundancies of functions and
program across NGAs, the civil service workforce will be affected which is why the Rightsizing
Program offers separation incentives such as (1) avail retirement benefits (2) avail separation
incentives, (3) commute unused vacation leave and sick leave credits, (4) refund Pag-IBIG
contributions and (5) be placed by the CSC in agencies needing additional personnel. But, the
number of personnel to avail of the program incentives must not exceed the number of positions
declared by agency for abolition.

Historical efforts in Philippine Public Service Reform

Streamlining, reorganization or reengineering the bureaucracy has been a consistent program of

past administrations and each president put his stamp on the bureaucracy through personnel and
organizational changes (Cariño 1992). The reform measures vary depending on the priority of the
current leadership, which may be in the form of reengineering, reorganization and rationalization
anchored on the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, social growth,
innovation and good governance (Calina 2015). The table below shows the reorganization or
streamlining efforts of previous administration in the Philippine government.

Period/Administration Legal Basis Title

1968 Marcos RA 5435 An Act Authorizing the President of the
Philippines, with the help of the
Commission on Reorganization, to
Reorganize the Different Executive
Departments, Bureaus, Offices,
Agencies and Instrumentalities of the
government, including banking and
financial institutions and corporations
owned or controlled by it, subject to
certain conditions and limitations
RA 6076 Amending section 2 – the management
service of the Budget Commission as the
technical staff of
the Commission on Reorganization
 RA 6172 Amending Section 4 – deadline for
submission of an Integrated
Reorganization Plan to Dec 31, 1970,
instead of Dec 31, 1969

RA 6175 Amending further the submission of the

President to Congress of the Integrated
Reorganization Plan to forty calendar
days
1986 Aquino, Corazon Executive Order (EO) Converting the Presidential Commission
No 5, s. 1986 on Reorganization into a Presidential
Commission on Government
Reorganization, reconstituting its
membership, and for other purposes
1992 Ramos Memorandum Order Mandating all heads of Departments,
No. 27, s. 1992 agencies and instrumentalities of the
National Government to streamline and
improve their operations and
organizations

E.O. 149, s. 1993 Streamlining of the Office of the

President
1999 Estrada E.O. 165, s. 1999 Directing the formulation of an
institutional strengthening and
streamlining program for the executive
branch
2004 Arroyo E.O. 366 s. 2004 Directing a Strategic review of
operations and Organizations of the
Executive Branch and providing options
and incentives for government
employees who may be affected by the
Rationalization of functions and agencies
of the executive branch
2010 Aquino, Benigno E. O. 18 Rationalizing the Organization and
III (Noynoy) Supervision of certain agencies, offices
and other similar entities attached to or
under the Office of the President
2016 Duterte E. O. 1, s. 2016 Reengineering the Office of the President
towards greater responsiveness to the
attainment of development goals
Source: Calina 2015
Importance of right sizing the positions in the government

Rightsizing the position in the government can help the government to eliminate redundant,
duplicate and overlapping functions that will result to improved public service delivery. If fully
enacted into law, the proposed bill will effect a major reform of the entire dimension and structure
of government because it is designed to arrive at the appropriate structure and size of government
agencies that will be responsive in the delivery of public goods and services in an effective and
efficient manner, at the right time, and at the right cost.

Generally, the organizational actions to be followed in the proposed rightsizing bill are:
1. Regularize ad hoc offices whose functions are vital and significant, thus must be
continually undertaken by the government;
2. Merge or consolidate agencies whose functions are necessarily overlapping or duplicating
and can be undertaken by a single entity; or clients are similar or related to rationalize the
use of government resources;
3. Split agencies with multifarious functions which are deemed distinct and equally serve
important aspects of governance;
4. Transfer offices to other agencies wherein their functions are more aligned; and
5. Abolish agencies: (i) which functions are already redundant or no longer relevant or
necessary, or better undertaken by another entity; (ii) which are no longer achieving the
objectives and purposes for which these were originally created; (iii) which are not cost-
effective since these do not generate the desired levels of outputs and outcomes vis-à-vis
the resource inputs; and/or (iv) which have already become nonoperational, dormant and/or
outlived their purposes (HB 5707, Section 4).

Furthermore, rightsizing will ensure

1. Effectiveness. It will help in strengthening the core functions of government and refocusing
resources to the President’s 0+10 Point Socio Economic Agenda
2. Efficiency. Rightsizing will give more value to taxpayer’s money
3. Responsiveness. The government can keep pace with changing public demands
4. Progressiveness. The government can quickly adopt to technological advancements and
developments.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

There have been many changes in the economic and socio-political environment in the country, as
well as advancement in technology, and it seems that the bureaucracy has not adjusted accordingly.
Aside from these budgetary implications, a big bureaucracy has a negative impact on government
performance and efficiency. The overlapping jurisdictions and redundant functions of several
agencies result in confusing regulatory rules, red tape, and inefficient delivery of public goods and
services – all to the detriment of the Filipino people. To continue funding these redundant and
outdated agencies is certainly a waste of limited resources.

Now, the government has acquired an unnecessary proliferation of agencies with redundant,
duplicating, or overlapping mandates and functions. There are some agencies which have outlived
their purpose and there are services provided by certain agencies which could be better provided
by the private sector. Thus, it is indeed time that the administration revisit and re-study the
organization and operations of the different agencies of the government

Rightsizing is a reform mechanism that aims to enhance the government’s institutional capacity
by implementing transformational initiatives and improving public service delivery through the
elimination of redundant, unnecessary, or overlapping functions, programs, and projects. The
proposed rightsizing bill will abolish, deactivate, regroup, merge, consolidate and/or split various
departments and agencies. It will also establish or regulate offices and transfer functions and
projects. With this, the excess fat in the government bureaucracy will be removed and the
operations will be streamlined.

However, there may be some handholding necessary for sectors that will be adversely affected
during the transition of the proposed reform. Nevertheless, this must be done with utmost
sensitivity, but with the objective of facilitating the transition that will fully eventuate in positive
change - a leaner, cleaner, and more competent bureaucracy.
REFERENCES:

Businessmirror, Rightsizing the National Government

Charlotte Justine Diokno-Sicat, Economic Principles for Rightsizing Government

DBM (2017), Rightsizing the National Government,

Dr. K.L. Prasanna Kumar, Innovation and Dynamic Capabilities: In Convergent Approach by

NCPAG, Reinventing, Reengineering &Reorganizing The Bureaucracy In The Philippines: Why

We Should Be More Hopeful

Philstar, Rightsizing the government

Senate Bill No. 13952 “An Act Rightsizing the National Government to Improve Public Service
Delivery and for Other Purposes.”