Government urged to review relevance of plantilla posts

MANILA, Philippines — The government should reexamine the relevance of plantilla positions as rightsizing the bureaucracy should remain a priority of the administration, according to experts.

In a compendium of policy briefs by the Ateneo de Manila University and funded by the House of Representatives, the experts pushed for an effective government rightsizing to improve delivery of public services in the country.

According to the policy brief, the number of undersecretaries and assistant secretaries has almost tripled since 1994, but the country lags in terms of hiring professionals such as teachers and doctors.

In fact, the Philippines falls behind its neighbors in Southeast Asia when it comes to the ratio of public school teachers, police, soldiers and public doctors to the total population.

“This comparison prompts a reexamination of the structure of the civil service and the relevance of plantilla positions to the mandates of executive agencies,” the experts said.

The Department of Budget and Management has been pushing for rightsizing aimed at enhancing the government’s institutional capacity to enable it to implement transformational reform initiatives and improve public service.

It also aims to determine the role and activities of the government, establish a conducive policy environment and delineate responsibilities between the national and local government.

According to the experts, there are disparities between the national and local government workforces despite decentralization efforts.

While the overall public sector workforce has expanded over time, the share of local government employment has remained relatively unchanged despite efforts to decentralize and devolve public service provision over the recent decades, the experts said.

“This emphasizes the need to strengthen local government capabilities to fulfill their expanded mandates,” they said.

Nonetheless, the policy brief maintained that rightsizing must be viewed as a dynamic and continuous process, not a one-off initiative.

It noted that government rightsizing initiatives typically confront complex political economy issues, affecting various stakeholders, especially those in the government bureaucracy, and therefore require strong buy-in from the president and top bureaucrats.

Such a policy is also shaped by pressing political needs, often during economic hardships such as the pandemic.

The policy brief said that continuous digitalization of public service delivery, decentralization and development of a culture of learning through evidence-based monitoring and evaluation are needed to enable government rightsizing.