Republic of the Philippines RECEIVED

a
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ; 2019 &
Quezon City, Metro Manila ;
18% Congress .
First Regular Session

House Bill No. _561

Introduced by HON. RODRIGO A. ABELLANOSA.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to authorize the President of the Republic of the Philippines to rightsize
the executive branch of the government in ord “o promote a more streamlined and
efficient system of operations. It also grants the heads of the Legislature, the
Judiciary, Constitutional Offices, Loc=! Goverzument Units, and State Universities
and Colleges the same authority within their authorized appropriations.

The implementation of this rationalization program shall be overseen by the
Committee on Rightsizirg the National Government which shall be created under
this same bill. The program is aimed at streamlining national government agency
operations thereby promoting a more efficient system of delivery of services.

‘The adoption of this bill will ensure a more sustainable pattern of public expenditure
through a leaner yet more responsive and effective bureaucracy. In view thereof,
passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

RODRIGO A. ABELLANOSA


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

18% Congress
First Regular Session

561

House Bill No.

Introduced by HON. RODRIGO A. ABELLANOSA

AN ACT RIGHTSIZING THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE
PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as “Rightsizing the National
Government Act”.

SEC. 2. Dectaration of Poticy. — 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 duplication in its operations and simplify its rules and
regulations, systems and processes.

SEC. 3. Coverage. — This Act shall cover all agencies of the executive branch,
including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, and all
other entities attached to or under their administrative supervision, government-
owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs} not covered by Republic Act No. 10149
or the “GOCC Governance Act of 2011”.

‘The Legislature, the Judiciary, the Constitutional Commissions, and the Office
of the Ombudsman may, within their respective authorized appropriations, likewise
rightsize their respective offices, consistent with the principles and guidelines
contained in this Act.

Local government units (LGUs) may also rightsize their respective offices,
consistent with the governing principles and guidelines contained in this Act and the
provisions of Republic Act No. 7160 or the “Local Government Code of 1991”, and
subject to their financial capability.

‘The Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) shall continue to exercise its
authority under Republic Act No. 10149 to reorganize, merge, streamline, abolish, or


privatize any GOCC, in consultation with the department or agency to which the
GOCC is attached.

SEC. 4. Principles and Guidelines. — The National Government shall
implement a Rightsizing Program in accordance with the following principles and
guidelines:

(a) The role of government and the scope, level, and prioritization of
government activities shall be determined in accordance with the constitutional
mandate, political and socioeconomic objectives of the government, and available
resources;

(b) The government shall establish a conducive policy environment to
encourage active private sector engagement in the production and delivery of goods
and services;

(c) The delineation of responsibilities between the National Government and
the LGUs in the provision, production, and delivery of goods and services shall be
clearly defined;

(4) A whole-of-government approach shall be adopted to ensure seamless
operations of agencies within and across sectors and to be more responsive to public
needs;

(ec) Government operations shall be simplified so that the
departments/agencies can focus on the performance of their core functions and
implementation of programs and projects that will lead to the attainment of desired
sectoral and national goals and outcomes;

() Government systems and processes shall be simplified and modernized to
facilitate the delivery and upgrade the quality of frontline services, as well as to
improve policy formation, planning and performance evaluation, and raise overall
productivity of the public sector;

{g) Government rules, procedures, and requirements shall be rationalized to
reduce the regulatory burden on citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders, as well
as reduce the administrative burden on the part of the government; and

(h) The organizational structure of an agency shall be designed to facilitate the
effective, efficient, and economical implementation of programs and projects, and the
attainment of organizational outputs and outcomes; rightsized and the appropriate
staffing mix shall be determined based on the skills and competencies required to
effectively and efficiently carry out the agency’s mandate and functions.

SEC. 5. Authority of the President of the Philippines to Rightsize the Operations
of the Executive Branch. — Pursuant to the governing rules, policies, standards and
guidelines stipulated in this Act, the President of the Philippines is hereby granted
the following authority in the rightsizing of the operations of the different agencies of
the Executive Branch:

(a) To pursue the following functional shifts /modifications:

(1) Strengthen functions of the agency which directly contribute to the targeted
ultimate societal outcomes of the National Government and/or the targeted
sector/ subsector outcomes of the agency;

(2) Scale down, phase out, eliminate or discontinue functions, programs, and
projects that can better be carried out or undertaken by the private sector, or have
already been devolved to LGUs consistent with the governing principles provided in
this Act; and

(3) Transfer/integrate functions from one agency to another which can better
perform the same.


(b) To undertake the following organizational actions:

(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-a-vis the resource inputs; and/or (iv) which have already become
nonoperational, dormant and/or outlived their purposes.

(c) To undertake other functional/organizational actions, as necessary,
consistent with the policies, principles, framework, and standards of this Act;

(d) To develop and provide safety nets, including their implementation
strategies, for employees of departments/agencies who may be affected by the
government's rightsizing efforts; and

(e} To formulate an organizational development program to strengthen the
institutional capacity of the agencies and improve productivity of employees.

SEC. 6. Creation of a Committee on Rightsizing the Executive Branch. — A
Committee on Rightsizing the Executive Branch is hereby created to oversee the
implementation of the Rightsizing Program, in accordance with the provisions of this
Act.

The Committee shall be composed of the Executive Secretary as Chairperson,
and the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) as Co-
chairperson, with the Secretary of Socio-Economic Planning, Chairperson of the Civil
Service Commission (CSC), and the Head of the Presidential Management Staff, as
members.

‘The Committee shall be organized within fifteen (15) days from the effectivity
of this Act.

The Committee shall also organize Subcommittees composed of experts on
government operations, organizational development, and human resource
management to assist in the performance of its functions.

‘The DBM shall provide the necessary secretariat services to the Committee
and its Subcommittees.

In the spirit of transparency and participatory governance, the Committee
shall consult the departments/agencies concerned and accredited public sector
unions. And other stakeholders, relative to the implementation of the Executive
Branch Rightsizing Program.

SEC. 7. Powers and Functions of the Committee on Rightsizing the Executive
Branch—The Committee shall have the following powers and functions:

(a) To develop the policies, framework, strategies, and mechanisms to be
adopted in the implementation of the Executive Branch Rightsizing Program;

(b) To conduct studies on the functions, programs, projects, operations,
structure, and manpower complement of the different departments/agencies;


(c) To develop and prepare the rightsized organizational structure of
departments/agencies concerned and the corresponding executive issuances for
approval by the President;

(d) To develop and prepare the overall change management program, including
communication plans, to effectively manage the transition and ensure the smooth
implementation of the Rightsizing Program;

(c) To formulate the mechanisms to safeguard the welfare of employees who
may be affected by the rightsizing efforts, as well as the appropriate organizational
development program, for approval of the President;

(f To monitor the implementation by the different agencies of their respective
approved Rightsizing Plans, and report to the President any issue that must be

ad

(x) To engage the services of experts/consultants, through the DBM, to assist
the Committee and its Subcommittee in the performance of their functions; and
(h) To formulate the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of this Act.

SEC. 8. Submission of the Rightsized Organizational Structure and Proposed
Executive Issuances to the President. — The Committee on Rightsizing the Executive
Branch shall submit to the President the rightsized organizational structure of
agencies concerned and the corresponding executive issuances within two hundred
fifty (250) days from the effectivity of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of
this Act.

SEC. 9. Submission of the Detailed Organizational Structure and Staffing to the
DBM. — The heads of agencies shall prepare and submit to the DBM the detailed
organizational structure and staffing of their respective agencies within (90) days
after the approval of the proposed executive issuances by the President: Provided,
‘That assistance in the preparation of organizational structure and staffing pattern
has been extended to the agency by the DBM and the CSC.

SEC. 10. Retirement Benefits and Separation Incentives for Personnel Who May
be Affected by the Executive Branch Rightsizing Program. — The affected personnel
hired on a permanent basis and with appointments attested by the CSC, shall be
entitled to retirement benefits and separation incentives.

(a) The affected personnel shall be given the option to avail themselves of any
of the following retirement benefits under existing laws, if qualified:

(1) Retirement gratuity provided under Republic Act No. 1616 (An Act Further
Amending Section Twelve of Commonwealth Act of Numbered One Hundred Eighty-
Six, as Amended, by Prescribing Two Modes of Retirement and for Other Purposes),
as amended; or

(2) Retirement benefit under Republic Act No. 660 (An Act to Amend
Commonwealth Act Numbered One Hundred and Eighty-Six Entitled “An Act to
Create and Establish a Government Service Insurance System, to Provide for its
Administration, and to Appropriate the Necessary Funds Therefor,” and to Provide
Retirement Insurance and for Other Purposes}; or

(3) Retirement, separation or unemployment benefit provided under Republic
Act No. 8291 (An Act Amending Presidential Decree No. 1146, as Amended,
Expanding and Increasing the Coverage and Benefits of the Government Service
Insurance System, Instituting Reforms Therein and for Other Purposes}.

The retirement gratuity benefit of affected personnel who are qualified and
shall avail of Republic Act No. 1616 shall be paid by the Government Service


Insurance System (GSIS). The GSIS shall no longer pay the refund of retirement
premiums (both personnel and government shares) of the affected personnel who
shall avail of the Republic Act No. 1616 benefits.

(b) In addition to said retirement benefits, the affected personnel who would
opt to retire of be separated shall be entitled to the following applicable separation
incentives:

(1) One half (%) of the actual monthly basic salary for every year of the
government service, for those who have rendered less than eleven (11) years of
service;

(2) Three fourth (3/4) of the actual monthly basic salary for every year of
government service, computed starting from the first (1*') year, for those who have
rendered eleven (11) to less than twenty-one (21) years of service; and

(3) The actual monthly basic salary for every year of government service,
computed starting from the first (1*') year, for those who have rendered twenty-one
(21) to less than thirty-one (31) years of service; and

(4) One and one fourth (17/,} of the actual monthly basic salary for every year
of government service, computed starting from the (1*) year, for those who have
rendered thirty-one (31) years of service and above.

The actual monthly basic salary shall refer to the salary of the affected
personnel as of the date of approval of the agency's detailed organizational structure
and staffing by the DBM.

A minimum of five (5) years of government service is required in order for an
affected personnel to be entitled to avail of the Program’s separation incentives under
Section 10(b) of this Act: Provided, That for the purpose of computing the total
amount of separation incentives that an affected personnel shall receive, only the
government service up to age fifty-nine (59) and a fraction thereof shall be counted.
Government service starting at the age of sixty (60) shall no longer be subject to the
separation incentives provided herein, without affecting the original incentive factor
determined as applicable based on the actual years of service of the affected
personnel: Provided, further, That for the purpose of complying with the required
number of years of service under Republic Act No. 8291, the portability scheme
under Republic Act No. 7699 (An Act Instituting Limited Portability Scheme in the
Social Security Insurance Systems by Totalizing the Workers’ Creditable Services or
Contributions in Each of the Systems) may be applied, subject to existing policies
and guidelines.

The affected personnel, if with permanent appointment attested by the CSC,
who will not opt to retire from the service shall be placed in a manpower pool to be
organized and administered by the CSC. The CSC, in coordination with other
government agencies and relevant private institutions, shall retool the subject
personnel and deploy them to agencies which require their qualifications, skills, and
competencies.

The number of personnel who will avail of the separation incentives under
Section 10 of this Act shall in no case exceed the number of positions declared for
abolition.

The specific guidelines to carry out the provisions of this section shall be
prescribed in the IRR of this Act.

SEC. 11. Other Benefits of Retired/Separated Personnel. — The affected
personnel who retire or are separated shall, in addition to the applicable benefits
above, be entitled to the following:


(a) Refund of Pag-IBIG contributions, both personal and government of all
affected members, pursuant to existing rules and regulations of the Home
Development Mutual Fund; and

{b) Commutation of unused vacation and sick leave credits of the affected
personnel in accordance with existing rules and regulations

SEC. 12. Period of Availability of the Retirement Benefits and Separation
Incentives. — The retirement benefits and separation incentives provided in this Act
shall be available within sixty (60) days upon approval by the DBM of the detailed
rightsized organizational structure and staffing of departments/agencies concerned.

SEC. 13. Prohibition on Reemployment of Personnel Retired/ Separated from the
Service. — Personnel who retire or are separated from the service as a result of the
implementation of the Rightsizing Program shall not be reemployed in any agency of
the Executive Branch, including in GOCCs, for a period of five (5) years, except as
teaching or medical staff in education institutions and hospitals, respectively.

The retired/separated personnel under the program, who are reemployed
within the prohibited period shall refund the separation incentives received under
Section 10(b) of this Act on a prorated basis.

The retired/separated personnel under the program who undertake in
consultancy services for the government shall be governed by Section 7 of Republic
Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and
Employees)

SEC. 14. Joint Congressional Overnight Committee on the Rightsizing Program.
— There is hereby created an oversight committee to oversee, monitor and evaluate
the implementation of this act.

‘The oversight committee shall be composed of five (5) members each from the
Senate and the House of Representatives which shall include members of the Senate
Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation,
the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Government
Reorganization and the House Committee on Appropriations.

SEC. 15. Conduct of an Impact Assessment. — the DBM shall commission the
conduct of an independent impact assessment on the Executive Branch Rightsizing
Program three (3) years from its completion to, among others, determine the effects
of, and gains from, the implementation of the Program.

SEC. 16. Report to Congress. — The President shall submit a report to
Congress on the results of the Program after the completion of its implementation.

SEC. 17. Sunset Provision. — The authority given to the President under this
Act, as well as the existence of the Committee on Rightsizing the Executive Branch,
shall end three (3) years after the effectivity of this Act.

SEC. 18. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The Committee on
Rightsizing the Executive Branch shail formulate the necessary IRR within thirty (30)
days from the organization of the Committee. The IRR shall take effect fifteen (15)
days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.


SEC. 19. Provisions Applicable to Other Branches of Government,
Constitutional Commissions, Office of the Ombudsman, and the LGUs. — The
governing principles, policies, standards, and guidelines as well as the conditions
and limitations provided in this Act, shall be followed in the implementation of the
Rightsizing Program by other branches of government, Constitutional Commissions,
Office of the Ombudsman, and the LGUs.

The heads of the offices shall issue their respective IRR and furnish a copy
thereof to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Rightsizing Program
and the DBM.

SEC. 20. Funding Requirements. — The amount necessary for the initial
implementation if this Act shall be sourced against any applicable appropriation
items under the current General Appropriation Act, Subsequent amount needed to
continue the implementation of the Executive Branch Rightsizing Program in the
Executive Branch shall be included in the succeeding appropriations.

In the event that the Legislature, Judiciary, Constitutional Commissions and
the Office of the Ombudsman implement the rightsizing under this Act, the funding
requirements shall be included in the succeeding appropriations.

SEC. 21. Separability Clause. — if any provision of this Act is declared
unconstitutional or invalid the other provisions not otherwise affected shall remain
in full force and effect.

SEC. 22. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and

regulations, and other issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this
Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SEC. 23. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.
Approved.