CITING the humongous cost of governance amid duplicity in functions among government agencies, a proposed legislative measure that was filed last year has emerged into a congressional priority seeking to streamline the bureaucracy.
While the Senate Bill 890 or Rightsizing National Government Act, never delved on politics of compromise, patronage, and convenience, the legislative proposal seemed logical as politicians —local and national— have transformed government positions into some sort of reward. Or, maybe, it is a payback in lieu of supporting a candidate.
In some cases, enterprising crooks standing close to the “powers that may be” facilitated government appointment at cost, lest we forget the controversial “appointment for sale” which dragged the name of former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez into the brouhaha.
For one, there is truly a need to streamline government operations to improve efficiency and ensure that resources are utilized effectively.
Taking cue from the figures coming from the Senate —where the bill was filed— government personnel had ballooned from 1,590,757 in 1998 to 1,968,855 in 2022. The data doesn’t include positions in the local government including casual and temporary employees.
The government has grown so much that it consumes money that we could have spent on services badly needed by the poor and suffering citizens.
According to Sen. Francis Escudero who authored the bill, government spending for personnel services had bloated from P205 billion in 1998 to P1.397 trillion in 2022.
Such an enormous amount is almost three times as much as the 1998 national budget.
Speaking of rightsizing, Escudero’s legislative proposal should not be focusing on the bloated government workforce but must instead take a closer look into the duplication, if not overlapping functions and jurisdictions among agencies.
One perfect example perhaps is the case of the national government agencies like the Bureau of Customs which has previously been entangled in a peculiar situation inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Under the Republic Act 7227 which converted the former US Naval Base into a freeport zone, Subic is considered a separate customs territory. As such, it is beyond the taxing or assessment function of the BOC.
However, RA10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act mandates the BOC to collect revenue, protect the country’s borders, and facilitate trade embarking on incoming and outgoing shipments, which we all know is taking place inside the freeport zone.
Which of which should prevail?
