Rightsizing gov’t: create permanent positions for contractual workers–Gatchalian
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian has called on the government to create permanent positions for qualified contractual workers who have been consistently performing the same functions in the bureaucracy for many years.
“I would like to propose some form of language where part of the mandate is to create plantilla positions to accommodate contractual employees who are qualified,” Gatchalian said during the Senate consultative hearing for Senate Bill 890, or Rightsizing the National Government Act.
He emphasized that many of these contractual employees have been in their respective positions for more than 10 years and are already complying with civil service requirements.
“Many contractual employees who have been there for 10 years are actually qualified. The only problem was that there was no plantilla item,” he said.
In the government, a plantilla position is a position that is permanent and has a budget allocation in the annual General Appropriations Act.
According to Gatchalian, rightsizing should not only focus on enhancing government efficiency but also on providing employees with appropriate positions in the bureaucracy for functions they have already been performing for a long time.
He emphasized that the lack of plantilla items should not hinder efforts to improve government efficiency in delivering public services.
At the hearing, Gatchalian also asked the Department of Budget and Management representatives to provide estimates on the potential savings the government could generate if the proposed rightsizing bill is enacted into law.
The chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Gatchalian, highlighted that any savings resulting from the rightsizing measure could help improve the government’s fiscal position without resorting to imposing new taxes.
Teaching and non-teaching personnel
The senator advocated for the inclusion of both teaching and non-teaching personnel in the proposals for rightsizing the national government.
He stressed that the basic education sector already suffers from shortages of both teaching and non-teaching staff.
During the plenary debate over the 2025 national budget, the Department of Education mentioned a nationwide shortage of 56,050 teachers and 20,688 non-teaching personnel.
“If there are those that should be exempted from rightsizing, these should be the teaching and non-teaching personnel because we know that there are not enough of them in the whole country,” said Gatchalian.
The lawmaker reiterated the need to streamline the teacher hiring process, noting that it can take up to six months and involves the Department of Budget and Management and the Civil Service Commission.
Gatchalian also emphasized the need for more non-teaching staff to free teachers from administrative and ancillary tasks.
Pending proposals aim to promote government efficiency by reducing or eliminating redundancies, overlaps, and duplications in the national government’s operations.
These measures seek to grant the President the authority to reorganize the executive branch, including merging, streamlining, or abolishing agencies with overlapping and duplicating functions.
The bills also propose the creation of a committee to implement the rightsizing program in the executive branch.
