Government Optimization Act - ALBURO ALBURO AND ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICES

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Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.

AT A GLANCE:

The Government Optimization Act aims to promote and maintain effectiveness, efficiency, economy, equity, and ethical accountability in the government, enhance institutional capacity to improve public service delivery; and ensure the attainment of the country’s societal and economic development goals and objectives.

Under the Government Optimization Act, the government shall provide adequate resources to support an organization’s essential role, scope, and level of governance, and minimize, if not eliminate, redundancies, overlaps, and duplications in its operations and simplify its rules and regulations, systems and processes, while protecting the welfare of civil servants and other government workers.

The said Act shall cover all agencies of the Executive Branch, including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, and all other entities attached to or under the administrative supervision, and government-owned or-controlled corporations (GOCCs) not covered by the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.

The following positions shall be excluded in the coverage of this Act:

Teaching and teaching-related positions in elementary, secondary, technical or vocational schools, state universities and colleges, and non-chartered tertiary schools; and
Military and uniformed personnel in the Department of National Defense, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environment of Natural Resources, and the Department of Justice:

Provided, That the agencies to which these excluded positions belong shall ensure that the personnel involved conform with the qualifications and are actually performing the functions of such excluded positions.

The Legislature, Judiciary, Constitutional Commissions, and Office of the Ombudsman may, within their respective authorized appropriations, optimize their respective offices, consistent with the principles and guidelines contained in this Act, and within the parameters of the Unified Position Classification and Compensation System under the Compensation and Position Classification Act, as amended.

Local government units (LGUs) may also optimize their respective offices, consistent with the governing principles and guidelines contained in this Act and the provisions of the Local Government Code of 1991, as amended, and subject to their financial capability.

Authority of the President to Optimize the Operations of the Executive Branch

The President is hereby granted the following authority in optimizing the operations of the different agencies in the Executive Branch:

To pursue the following functions shifts or modifications:
1. Strengthen the functions of the agency that directly contribute to the targeted ultimate societal outcomes of the National Government and/or the targeted sector or subsector outcomes of the agency;
2. Scale down, phase out, eliminate, or discontinue functions, programs, projects, or activities that can be better carried out or undertaken by the private sector, or have already been developed to LGUs consistent with the governing principles provided under this Act; and
3. Transfer or integrate functions from one (1) agency to another which can better perform the same, or split functions of agencies, bureaus, and offices that may be conflicting or multifarious; and
To implement the following organizational and staffing actions, upon determination by the Committee on Optimizing the Executive Branch (COEB) that it is in the best interest of the State to create, reorganize, merge, streamline, abolish, or deactivate agencies, offices, or units:
1. Merge or consolidate agencies whose functions are unnecessarily overlapping or duplicating and can be undertaken by a single entity, or whose clients are similar or related, to rationalize the use of government resources;
2. Transfer agencies, units, or positions to another department, agency, or unit where their functions are more aligned;
3. Split agencies or units with multifarious functions that are distinct but equally important aspects of governance;
4. Create new agencies, offices, or positions, as needed, to strengthen the capacity of government agencies to perform their mandate;
5. Regularize ad hoc offices whose functions are vital and significant, and must continuously be undertaken by the government; and
6. Abolish or deactivate agencies or units, subject to evaluation and favorable recommendation of the COEB, based on any of the following grounds: (a) the functions are already redundant, no longer relevant or necessary, or can be better undertaken by another entity or subsumed under other departments/agencies/units; (b) the agency is no longer achieving the objectives and purposes for which it was originally created; (c) the agency’s continued operation is not cost-effective since it does not generate the desired level of outputs and outcomes vis-a-vis the resource inputs; or (d) the agency or unit has become non-operational or dormant and/or has outlived its purpose.

Prerequisites to Optimization

Organizational Review and Study. – An agency covered under this Act shall conduct an organizational review and study of the agency’s mandates, missions, objectives, functions, systems, procedures, programs, activities, projects, organizational structure, staffing patterns, and manpower complement. The study shall also include the evaluation of the qualifications and performance of all personnel.
Optimization Plan. – The agency shall formulate an Optimization Plan consistent with the governing principles set forth under Section 5 of this Act, which shall include areas where improvements are necessary and areas where more resources need to be rechanneled as part of its institutional strengthening effort.

The Optimization Plan may also include the agency’s requirement for additional plantilla positions for its qualified casual or contractual personnel, as well as its job order or contract of service workers with a minimum of ten (10) years of continuous service in the agency, subject to a cap or quota as may be determined by the COEB and the existing civil service laws, rules, and regulations, and the CSC-approved Merit Selection Plan of the agency: Provided, That the optimized agency shall not be allowed to hire casual or contractual personnel, as well as job order or contract of service workers within five (5) years from the time the Optimization Plan is implemented.

The organizational review and study, and the Optimization Plan shall be submitted to the COED within the period prescribed in the IRR. The DBM and the CSC may extend, as necessary, assistance to the agencies in the preparation of the Optimization Plan.

The agency shall conduct the organizational review and study, and the Optimization Plan, in consultation with an employee representative, in the following order of preference:

The sole and exclusive negotiating agent (SENA);
The representative of its registered organization; or
A nominee from its rank and file employees.

Retirement Benefits and Separation Incentives for Personnel Who May be Affected by the Government Optimization Program (GOP) – The affected personnel hired on a permanent basis and with the appointments attested by the CSC shall be entitled to retirement benefits and separation incentives.

(a) Qualified affected personnel shall be given the option to avail of any of the following retirement benefits under the existing laws:

1. Retirement gratuity provided under Republic Act No. 1616 or “An Act Further Amending Section Twelve of Commonwealth Act Numbered One Hundred Eighty-Six, as Amended, By Prescribing Two Other Modes of Retirement, and for Other Purposes”, as amended;
2. Retirement benefit under Republic Act No. 660 or “An Act to Amend Commonwealth Act Numbered One Hundred and Eighty-Six Entitled ‘An Act to Create and Establish a Government Service Insurance System, to Provide for its Administration, and to Appropriate the Necessary Funds Therefor,’ and to Provide Retirement Insurance and for Other Purposes”; or
3. Retirement, separation, or unemployment provided under Republic Act No. 8291, or “An Act Amending Presidential Decree No. 1146, as Amended, Expanding and Increasing the Coverage and Benefits of the Government Service Insurance System, Instituting Reforms Therein and for Other Purposes”; Provided, That affected personnel shall have a minimum of five (5) years of government service to avail of the separation benefits provided under this Act. The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) shall formulate guidelines on the grant of separation or unemployment benefits to affected personnel.

Qualified affected personnel availing the benefits under Republic Act No. 1616 shall be entitled to a refund of retirement premiums consisting of both personal and government shares, to be paid by the GSIS. The personnel shall be given the option to avail either the retirement gratuity benefit provided under Republic Act No. 1616 or the separation incentives under Section 13(b) of this Act, which shall be charged against the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

(b) In addition to said retirement benefits, the affected personnel retiring or separated shall be entitled to the following separation incentives as applicable:

One half (½) of the actual monthly basic salary for every year of government service, for those who have rendered five (5) to less than eleven (11) years of service;
Three-fourths (3/4) of the actual monthly basic salary for every year of government service, computed starting from the first year, for those who have rendered eleven (11) to less than twenty-one (21) years of service;
The actual monthly basic salary for every year of government service, computed starting from the first year, for those who have rendered twenty-one (21) to less than thirty-one (31) years of service; and
One and one-fourth (1 1/4) of the actual monthly basic salary for every year of government service, computed starting from the first year, for those who have rendered thirty-one (31) years of service and above.

The actual monthly basic salary shall refer to the affected personnel’s salary as of the date of approval of the agency’s Detailed Optimized Organizational Structure and Staffing Pattern (OSSP) by the DBM:

Provided, That for the purpose of computing the total amount of separation incentives that affected personnel will receive, only the government service rendered up to age fifty-nine (59) and a fraction thereof will be counted. Government service from the age of sixty (60) will no longer be subject to the separation incentives provided therein, without affecting the original incentive factor determined based on the actual years of service of the affected personnel, as applicable:

Provided, further, That to comply with the required number of years of service under Republic Act No. 8291, the portability scheme under Republic Act No. 7699 or “An Act Instituting Limited Portability Scheme in the Social Security Insurance Systems by Totalizing the Workers’ Creditable Services or Contributions in Each of the Systems” may be applied, subject to existing policies and guidelines:

Provided, finally, That affected personnel who retired or were separated from the service as a result of the implementation of the GOP shall not be reemployed in any agency of the National Government, including GOCCs, for a period of five (5) years, except in the exigency of service or as teaching or medical staff in educational institutions and hospitals, respectively.

The number of personnel who will avail of separation incentives under Section 13(b) of this Act shall in no case exceed the number of positions declared for abolition.

Other Benefits of Retired or Separated Personnel

Refund of Pag-IBIG Contributions. – All affected personnel who are members of the Pag-IBIG Fund shall be entitled to the refund of their contributions (both personal and government), pursuant to existing rules and regulations of the Home Development Mutual Fund; and
Commutation of Unused Vacation and Sick Leave Credits. – All affected personnel shall be entitled to the commutation of unused vacation and sick leave credits in accordance with existing rules and regulations.

Period of Availability of the Retirement Benefits and Separation Incentives – The retirement benefits and separation incentives provided under this Act shall be available within sixty (60) days from the issuance of the Notice of Organization, Staffing, and Compensation Action (NOSCA) by the DBM to the concerned agencies.

Option for Affected Personnel Who Opt Not to Retire or Separate from the Service – The affected personnel who opt not to retire or separate from the service shall, if qualified, occupy vacant positions within the agency without reduction in salary.

Alternatively, affected personnel may apply for transfer to other departments/agencies/GOCCs, subject to CSC rules and regulations.

The personnel shall be subject to a reskilling and upskilling program to capacitate them for redeployment.

The personnel movement, including the conduct of reskilling and upskilling, shall be completed within the period approved by the COEB.

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Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding legal services, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/ 09175772207/ 09778050020.

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