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Villar: Gov't Can't Afford P15B Early Retirement Program
ABS CBN News
August 10, 2004
The government cannot afford to borrow more money to fund its planned early retirement program in an effort to streamline the bureaucracy, the Senate's finance committee chairman said Thursday.
In an interview with dzMM's Dos Por Dos program, Sen. Manuel Villar said the government may end up paying more interest for the P15-billion loan it is eyeing from the World Bank to fund the program instead of saving up on its resources.
"If we are going to borrow P15 billion, that's a lot of money and the interest could be huge," Villar said. "We have a lot of foreign debts already."
Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin earlier said the government has earmarked P15 billion, borrowed from the World Bank, for the early retirement program.
He said those who will be retained in their positions may also demand for a higher pay since they will be absorbing the functions of those that will be retrenched.
While the proposal is a "good idea," he said the government also needs to save and reduce the budget deficit.
He suggested realigning instead office employees to the field. "There are jobs that lack manpower like for example, traffic policemen or street cleaners," Villar said.
He added: "We have a lot of office-based employees but we need more people in the field. So if we cannot afford an early retirement program, why don't we re-channel or reassign people to where they are most needed?"
Villar said the government should choose agencies for streamlining.
He suggested that government corporations should be made to perform efficiently. them more efficient.
He said the government should also implement freeze-hiring and continue with merging different offices.
Villar said among those branches that could be merged into one are the departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform and the Environment and Natural Resources; and the departments of Finance, Budget and Management and the National Economic Development Authority.
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