MANILA, Philippines — Rightsizing should not be done at the expense of government workers, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla said on Sunday as he expressed support for the proposal.
Early this month, the economic team of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced that it has revived the call to rightsize the bureaucracy in a bid to save government funds.
READ: DBM pushes for ‘rightsizing’ of bureaucracy to save funds
“Sinusuportahan natin ang pamahalaan sa rightsizing ng burukraysa, but not at the expense of our hardworking civil servants. Hindi dapat malagay sa alanganin ang kanilang mga hanapbuhay,” Revilla said in a statement, noting that public servants are the “backbone of our government.”
(We are supporting the government to rightsize the bureaucracy, but not at the expense of our hardworking civil servants. Their lives should not be at stake.)
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“The plan of the government’s economic managers to introduce a policy that will rationalize the bureaucracy by reorganizing agencies that have overlapping and redundant functions that will make the delivery of public services more efficient and better coordinated is laudable. However, it should not be done at the expense of hardworking government employees whose jobs will be put at risk,” he added.
For Revilla, the retrenchment of government workers “should not be central to the intent to rightsize the government.”
Rather, the move should concentrate on “reshaping and revamping the government” to save unneeded costs caused by inefficiency.
“It should always bend towards serving the welfare of the people, and never against it. After all, the heart of all government policies should be guided by the maxim that the welfare of the people is the supreme law,” he said.
The senator assured the public that he will push for humane policies that will raise the standard of living while the economy is growing.
Revilla likewise said that he will work with his colleagues to improve public service and protect Filipinos.
Some senators recently also aired their support for the proposed rightsizing of the bureaucracy.
READ: Senators back proposed rightsizing of bureaucracy