Establishing the Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFil) will be aligned with goals of streamlining and rightsizing the bureaucracy to make it more responsive and efficient, stressed Sen. Bong Go.
Go reiterated the need to establish DOFil, saying that the creation of said department will contribute to the initiative of rightsizing the bureaucracy.
President Rodrigo Duterte has announced numerous times that this is one of the priority measures of the administration.
A version of the measure has already been passed in the House of Representatives early this year.
However, deliberations on the proposed measure have not made much progress in the Senate as some senators cited the desire to prioritize ‘Rightsizing the National Government’ before creating new departments. Macon Ramos-Araneta
Go emphasized the creation of the DOFil, in fact, serves the purpose of rightsizing the government.
He explained that the proposal “will not bloat the bureaucracy, but would rather streamline the functions, improve coordination, and make it more responsive to the needs of Filipinos it wishes to serve.”
Go highlighted that creating the DOFil will not build a whole new office from scratch but will simply merge or put together into one executive department all key offices dealing with matters related to overseas Filipinos.
The Senator added that DOFil will also avoid overlapping functions and consolidates budgetary allocations in a single government entity, providing better and more efficient services to Filipino migrants and overseas workers.
Go stressed also that the budget appropriated to agencies will be utilized for this new department and will no longer incur additional burden to the country’s financial struggles caused by the pandemic — rather it will unburden the bureaucracy and streamline functions, so it can respond better and maximize further the resources needed.
He noted that around ten million of the population are considered overseas Filipinos. While the government does its best to create equal or even better opportunities for these Filipinos to return home, it is still the responsibility of the state to take care of its citizens wherever they are in the world.
Go further urged his colleagues to prioritize the measure and continue the committee deliberations to see how the chamber can reach a viable solution.
He appealed to fellow legislators to consider the situation of overseas Filipinos and their appeals to make government mechanisms more responsive to their needs.
The bill, Go said, must be prioritized by the chamber given the urgency of the matter it seeks to address and the fact that this is one of the priority measures of the Duterte Administration.