Pimentel wants Congress rightsized along with the rest of the gov't

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Sunday said both the Senate and the House of Representatives should be included in the proposed effort to rightsize or trim the bureaucracy.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, Pimentel called on the “supermajority” blocs in the 19th Congress or the “followers of the President” to abide by the call of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to give President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the authority to rightsize the government to save funds.

“Since galing na rin ito kay President Marcos ang idea ng rightsizing, then manawagan na rin siya sa Senado at sa House of Representatives na mag-rightsize din kami. ‘Pag sinabing rightsize, ibig sabihin, tignan ninyo ang mga budget ninyo sa Senate at saka House,” he said.

(Since the idea of rightsizing also came from Marcos, then he should also call on the Senate and the House of Representatives to rightsize as well. By rightsizing, that means going over the Senate and the House's budget.)

“Siguro, kami sa minority, pati ‘yang House budget ay titignan na rin namin pati ang Senate budget kasi napapansin ko rin, palaki rin nang palaki every year eh di maganda ‘yun, or ipaliwanag nang mabuti saan pumupunta ang additional budget na ‘yan,” he added.

(Maybe, for us in the minority, we'll go over the House and Senate's budgets because I too noticed that these were getting bigger every year. That can't be good. They should also explain how the additional budget is used.)

In December 2021, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed the P5.024-trillion 2022  national budget into law. This was an increase from the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.

Further, Pimentel said that there were government offices that had overlapping jurisdictions, thus the rightsizing proposal. He said that under this measure, existing government employees will be placed in another position to make them more productive and to better utilize their talents and knowledge.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier said they will be checking 187 agencies, departments, offices, and bureaus, including government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs)—which employ an estimated two million personnel—for redundant or overlapping functions.

She, however, explained that the administration’s plan to rightsize the bureaucracy did not automatically mean a reduction in the number of personnel in government agencies. Nonetheless, the employees who would be displaced may be transferred to “upsized” agencies. — DVM, GMA News