Senate bill on government ‘rightsizing’ changed to ‘optimization’

MANILA, Philippines — The term “rightsizing” in a Senate bill advocating a more strategic approach to improving government operations will now be referred to as “optimization,” Senate President Francis Escudero announced.

Escudero said senators would work to ensure that the Senate’s Optimization Bill, formerly the Rightsizing National Government Act, is passed before the 19th Congress concludes in June.

Congress, which resumed session last Jan. 13, will take a break on Feb. 7 to make way for the May 2025 midterm elections. Sessions will then resume from June 2 to 13, before adjourning sine die.

“We will try our best (to pass the bill)… the rightsizing has been changed to the optimization bill, as ‘rightsizing’ was deemed too negative,” Escudero told The STAR in Filipino.

Currently, there are five proposals to optimize the government: Senate Bills 2502, 2126, 1779, 1474 and 890, filed by Escudero, Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva, Raffy Tulfo and Imee Marcos.

Escudero said the optimization bill would serve as an outline to guide the executive department in implementing the program aimed at improving government operations.

“The optimization bill is just an outline, it’s not saying that we’re going to remove this or that. It is just an outline, which states that if the President wants to do this, these are the requirements that must be met before it can be carried out in any office within the executive branch. It’s just an outline of what the President can or cannot do if he wants to optimize the government’s bureaucracy,” the Senate President explained.

Recently, the bill raised concerns about potential government employee layoffs due to the term “rightsizing,” which Escudero immediately clarified by explaining that rightsizing in the bill refers to streamlining the bureaucracy, which involves the possible creation of new positions, new offices and the upgrading and upscaling of personnel to help fill much-needed positions and put them on the path of career advancement.

Escudero noted that the proposal explicitly stated that the optimization would exclude teachers, police, soldiers and health care workers. Also excluded are Congress, constitutional commissions and the judiciary.

He added that there will be a sunset clause or a provision that sets an expiration date for the law or a specific section of it. Once the sunset date is reached, the law automatically becomes invalid unless it is renewed or extended through further legislative action.