Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3913

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by Representative FERDINAND L. HERNANDEZ

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to provide for the implementation of a Rightsizing
Program in the National Government for purposes of, among others,
enhancing the government's institutional capacity to improve public
service delivery.

The proposed measure is in line with the directive made by the
President during his inaugural address to all Department
Secretaries/Agency Heads to streamline the operations of their respective
Departments/Agencies. It provides the President the following authority in
the rightsizing of the operations of the different departments/agencies of
the National Government:

a. To undertake organizational actions in order to eliminate
functions, programs and projects which are already
redundant, no longer necessary, or those duplicating or
overlapping between and among the units within the
department or with other departments/agencies of the
National Government

a.1 Abolish, deactivate, group integrate, merge, consolidate
or split national government agencies, including
departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards,
councils, and all other entities attached to or under their
administrative supervision;

a.2 Create, establish or regularize offices; and

a.3 Transfer offices, functions, programs and projects, and/or
the corresponding appropriations, equipment, properties,


records, personnel, and transactions, from one
department/agency to another.

b. To formulate and provide safety nets, including their
implementation strategies, for employees of
departments/agencies who may be affected by the
government's rightsizing efforts.

The bill also provides for the creation of a Committee on
Rightsizing the National Government that will oversee the implementation
of the Program and organize a Technical Working Group to assist in the
performance of its functions. Retirement benefits and separation
incentives are provided for personnel who may be affected by the
National Government's Rightsizing Program.

In view of the foregoing, the prompt consideration and approval of
this measure is earnestly being sought.



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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 3913

Introduced by Representative FERDINAND L. HERNANDEZ

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 the
“Rightsizing the National Government Act of 2016”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - 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
systems and processes.

SEC. 3. Coverage. — This act shall cover all national government
agencies, including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards,
councils, and all other entities attached to or under their administrative

supervision.


The Legislature, the Judiciary, Constitutional Offices, State
Universities and Colleges, and Local Government Units (LGUs) may,
within their respective authorized appropriations, likewise rightsize their
respective offices, consistent with the principles and guidelines contained
in this Act.

The Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled
Corporations shall continue to exercise its authority under Republic Act
(RA) No. 10149 to reorganize, merge, streamline, abolish or privatize any
government-owned or -controlled corporation (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 socio-economic objectives
of the government, and available resources;

b) 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;

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

d) Government systems and processes shall be simplified to
facilitate the delivery and upgrade the quality of frontline


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services, as well as to improve policy formulation, planning and

performance evaluation;

e) Government rules shall be rationalized to reduce the regulatory
burden on citizens, businesses and other stakeholders; and

f) The organizational structure of agencies shall be rightsized and
the appropriate staffing mix shall be determined based on the
skills and competencies required to effectively and efficiently
carry out the agency mandate and functions.

SEC. 5. Authority of the President of the Philippines to

Rightsize the Operations of the National Government. - Pursuant to
the policies, principles and guidelines stipulated in this Act, the President
is hereby granted the following authority in the rightsizing of the
operations of the different departments/agencies of the National

Government:

a) To undertake the following organizational actions in order to
eliminate functions, programs and projects which are already
redundant, no longer necessary, or those duplicating or
overlapping between and among the units within the department
or with other departments/agencies of the National Government;

a.1 Abolish, deactivate, group, integrate, merge, consolidate or
split national government agencies, including departments,
bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, and all
other entities attached to or under their administrative

supervision;

a.2 Create, establish or regularize offices; and


a.3 Transfer offices, functions, programs and projects, and/or
the corresponding appropriations, equipment, properties,
records, personnel, and transactions, from one
department/agency to another.

b) To formulate and provide safety nets, including their
implementation strategies, for © employees of,
departments/agencies who may be affected by the
government's rightsizing efforts.

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

The Committee shall be composed of the Executive Secretary as
Chairman, and the Secretary of Budget and Management as Co-
Chairman, with the Director-General of the National Economic and
Development Authority, 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 a Technical Working Group
composed of experts on government operations, organizational
development, and human resource management to assist in the
performance of its functions.

In the spirit of transparency and participatory governance, the
Committee shall consult the departments/agencies concerned and


accredited public sector unions relative to the implementation of the
National Government's Rightsizing Program.

SEC. 7. Powers and Functions of the Committee on
Rightsizing the National Government. - 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 National
Government's 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 monitor the implementation by the different
departments/agencies of their respective approved Rightsizing
Plans, and report to the President any issue that must be
addressed;

e) To commission the conduct of an independent impact
assessment on the National Government's Rightsizing Program
after its completion, to determine the effects of, and gains from,
the implementation of the Program, mitigate any adverse effects,
and address areas which still require improvements; and

f

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 National Government shall submit to
the President the  rightsized organizational structure of
departments/agencies concerned and the corresponding executive
issuances within one (1) year from the effectivity of the IRR of this Act.

SEC. 9. Submission of the Detailed Organizational
Structure and Staffing to the DBM. - Department Secretaries/Agency
Heads shall prepare and submit to the DBM the detailed organizational
structure and staffing of their respective departments/agencies within
ninety (90) days after the approval of the proposed executive issuances
by the President.

SEC. 10. Retirement Benefits and Separation Incentives for
Personnel Who May be Affected by the National Government's
Rightsizing Program. - The affected personnel, whether hired on a
permanent, temporary, casual or contractual basis and with appointments
attested by the CSC, shall be entitled to retirement benefits and

separation incentives.

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

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


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10.

b) Retirement benefit under RA 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

c) Retirement, separation or unemployment benefit
provided under RA 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 have opted to avail themselves of RA 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 will opt to avail of RA No. 1616
benefits.

2 In addition to said retirement benefits, the affected personnel

who would opt to retire or be separated shall be entitled to
the following applicable separation incentives:

a) 2 of the actual monthly basic salary for every year
of government service, for those who have rendered
less than 11 years of service;


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b) % of the actual monthly basic salary for every year
of government service, computed starting from the 1%
year, for those who have rendered 11 to less than 21
years of service;

c) the actual monthly basic salary for every year of
government service, computed starting from the 1%
year, for those who have rendered 21 to less than 31
years of service; and

d) 1 % of the actual monthly basic salary for every
year of government service, computed starting from the
1% year, for those who have rendered 31 years of
service and above.

The actual monthly basic salary shall refer to the salary of the
affected personnel within the authorized period of
implementation of the Program in their respective
departments/agencies.

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 10.2 of this
Act.

PROVIDED: That for the purpose of computing the total
amount of separation incentives that an affected personnel
would receive, only his/her government service up to age 59
and a fraction thereof would be counted. Government service
starting at the age 60 would 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.


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PROVIDED FURTHER: That for the purpose of complying with
the required number of years of service under RA No. 8291,
the portability scheme under RA 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 shall retool the subject affected 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 Sections 10.2 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
Sections shall be prescribe in the IRR of this Act.

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

a) Refund of Pag-IBIG Contributions ~ all affected personnel who
are members of the Pag-IBIG shall be entitled to the refund of
their contributions (both personal and government), pursuant
to existing rules and regulations of the Hoe Development
Mutual Fund; and


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b) Commutation of Unused Vacation and Sick Leave Credits - all
affected personnel shall be entitled to the commutation of
unused vacation and sick leave credits 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  Rehiring of Personnel
Retired/Separated from the Service. - Affected personnel who
retired/separated from the service as a result of the implementation of
the National Government's Rightsizing Program shall not be appointed nor
hired as casuals or contractual in any agency of the National Government,
including in GOCCs for a period of five (5) years, except as teaching staff
in a state university or college.

The provision of consultancy services by government personnel who
retired or were separated as a result of the rightsizing efforts shall be
governed by Section 7 of RA No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical
Standards for Public Officials and Employees).

SEC. 14. Report to Congress. - The President shall submit a
report to Congress on the results of the Program after the completion of
its implementation.

SEC, 15. Funding Requirements. — The amount necessary for the
initial implementation of this Act shall be sourced against any applicable
appropriation items under the current General Appropriations Act.
Subsequent amount needed to continue the implementation of the


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National Government's Rightsizing Program in the National Government
shall be included in the succeeding appropriations.

SEC. 16. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The
Committee on Rightsizing the National Government shall formulate the
necessary IRR within thirty (30) days from the organization of the
Committee. Such rules and regulations shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

SEC. 17. 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. 18. 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. 19. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,