Unburdening the President’s office

Title

Language

English

Source

The Republic I (6) 1-31 December 1975

Year

1975

Subject

Philippines. Office of the President

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

12 1-31 December 1975 J THE REPUBLIC Unburdening the President’s office IN view of President Marcos’ decision to change the nature of the Office of the President, it is interesting to note what the Reorganization Commission headed by Armand Fabella said about the matter in its report in 1972. The first item of the report stated: The Office of the President shall be freed as much as possible from unneces sary detail by reducing the number of agencies reporting directly to the Presi dent-through abolition, merger or transfer, and by decreasing the routin ary or minor items now requiring ap proval by the President personally or the Executive Secretary. As a general rule, only those agen cies which meet any of the following criteria shall be retained in the Office of the President: a. the agency is a purely advisory or consultative body to the President; b. the agency provides staff assis tance to the President; c. the functions of the agency in volve several departments or entities; or d. the functions of the agency re quire the personal attention of the Pres ident. In every case, the criteria shall apply to agencies operating at a level of im portance that merits the attention of the President. ATER, the report says: It is recog nized that the Executive Office of Office of the President must conto be fully responsive to the spec ific needs and requriements of the PresConsolidating the funds THE President through Letter of Im plementation No. 29 dated Dec. 5, 1975, directed the Budget Commission to take over some budgetary functions formerly referred to the deftinct office of the executive secretary. This followed Letter of Implementation No. 28 plac ing the commission under the Office of the President. ■The President directed Budget Com missioner Jaime C. Laya “to take final action on the following budgetary matters’*. 1. Approval of lump sum appropria tions under Section 7-1(4), Common wealth Act No. 246, as amended, through soecial budgets: provided that: (a) in each instance, the total amount approved does not exceed the amount authorized in the approved program of expenditure, and (b) releases of funds are subject to other limitations as the President may impose; 2. Use of savings under the Special and General Provisions of the General Appropriations Decree; provided that: (a) the total expenditure ceiling of the individual agency is not exceeded; (b) savings are used only for non-recurring expenditures; and (c) purposes are not for those requiring Presidential approval; 3. Augmentation of fund appropria tion items used within a department/ agency; provided that funds used are obtained from other authorized pro grams of the same department/agency, subject to guidelines on percentage limits as provided by law or as may be prescribed by the President; 4. Release of funds for optional retirement gratuities under Republic Act 1616, as amended; prdvided it is within the approved program of expenditure and subject to existing policies as are or may be prescribed; 5. Approval of requests for exemp tion from Memorandum Circular No. 593 dated Aug. 8, 1972, of the Office of the President, relative to: a) author izing expenditures in connection with attendance in meetings, seminars, work shops, conventions, or the like; b) filling ident, and therefore he shall have com plete authority to reorganize the various functions and units of the Executive Office to meet the exigencies of the ser vice, and to abolish and create as many positions as may be necessary including those of assistant executive secretaries and presidential assistants; provided that incumbent personnel who belong to the career service in the Executive Office shall not be reduced in rank, decreased in salary or dismissed except for cause, as a result of any such reorganization; provided, further, that any such reorgan ization shall be undertaken within the limits of available appropriations and subject to civil service laws and rules. HE report also notes: There are at present around 160 entities (as of 1972) under the administrative supervision of the Office of the President. The Office is now overburdened with many referrals and other routinary matters, a situation stemming largely from the proliferation of agencies re porting directly to the President and the many matters requiring presidential approval under existing laws and rules. In the past, many agencies had pre ferred to be under the Office of the Pres ident since that Office had neither the staff nor the capability to monitor these agencies, much less supervise them. Decentralization is necessary to free the Office of such detail to enable it to concentrate on policy formulation and decision-making on the more substantial issues. □ of vacant positions; and c) purchase of necessary and essential furniture and office equipment, subject to guidelines prepared by the Budget Commission and approved by the President; and 6. Payment of overtime compensa tion under Section 7-1(32) of CA. No. 246, as amended, subject to guidelines prepared by the commission and ap proved by the President. The budget commissioner is to sub mit to the President a regular monthly report of these actions taken. It was also stated that nothing in the delegation of authority shall be construed as a limitation to the power of the President to review or overrule any action taken by the budget comPresident on Dec, 11 ordered the lition of 10 agencies and the transfer of 34 others from the Office of the President to other government agencies. The order, in Letters of Implemen tation Nos. 30 to 34, instructed aboli tion of the following: Bl. Board of Visitors on Education; 2. Joint Committee on Financial Management Improvement; 3. Philip pin e-J span Joint Commis sion; 4. Peace and Order Coordinating Council; 5. Philippine National Committee on Freedom from Hunger Campaign; 6. Social Defense Planning Com mittee; 7. Presidential Census Coordinating Board; 8. Congressional Accounts Liquida tion Office; 9. Complaints and Investigation Office; 10. Board of Liquidators. BHowever, the functions of the Board of Liquidators, including applicable ap propriations, records, equipment, pro perty, and personnel, are transferred, to the Department of General Services or its successor agency, the General Service Administration. AGENCIES ordered transferred from /A. the Office of the President to other agencies or departments are: L. Inter-Agency Task Force to the National Housing Authority. The trans fer includes applicable appropriations, records, equipment, property, and personnel. The National Housing Authority shall undertake the administration of the relocation and resettlement projects with the assistance of the Inter-Agency Task Force. 2. Philippine Amanah Bank, Philip pine Guarantee Corp., and the Fiscal pine Loan Guarantee Corp., and the Fis cal Incentives Review Board to the De partment of Finance. 3. Typhoon Moderation Research F the 11 agencies abolished, three and Development Council, PAGASA to will remain in operation until thp the Department of National Defense, completion of their tasks, after which The transfer also includes applicable ap- their abolition shall take effect, propriations, records, equipment, pro- They are: 1) Presidential Census Coperty, and personnel. ordinating Board, upon the completion 4. National Computer Center to the of the 1975 economic census. Department of National Defense. 2)iThe Congressional Accounts Li5. Committee on State Visits to the quidation Office, until the completion Department of Foreign Affairs. of its task. 6. Metropolitan Waterworks and 3) The Complaintsand Investigation Sewerage System, National Electrifica- Office upon the creation of the Tanodtion Administration, Farm Systems Dev- bayan pursuant to the new Constitution. elopraent Corp., Manila Transit Corp., Philippine National Railways, Philippine Ports Authority, National Housing Au thority, Local Water Utilities Adminis tration, National Power Corp., and Phil ippine Aerospace Development Corp, to the Department of Public Works, Trans portation and Communications. 7. Maritime Industry Authority and Power Development Council to the De partment of Public Works, Transporta tion and Communications. 8. Pasig River Development Council to the Department of Public Works, Transportation and Communications. 9. Development Academy of the Philippines to the Civil Service Com mission. 10. Philippine-Australian Develop ment Assistance Program (PADAP) to the Department of Public Highways. The DPH shall be assisted by the inter-agency technical staff created under Memoran dum Order No. 455, promulgated Sept. 23, 1973. The transfer also includes ap propriations, records, equipment, pro perty and personnel of the administra tion. 11. Export Processing Zone Author ity and National Development Co. to the Department of Industry. 12. Leyte Sab-A Basic Development Authority, the Southern Philippines Development Administration, and the Special Committee on Scholarships to the National Economic and Develop ment Authority. 13. Palayan ng Bayan National Ad visory Council and Presidential Commit tee on Agricultural Credit to the Depart ment of Agriculture. 14. Philippine Sugar Commission (when it is activated) and the Green Re volution Expanded Program Action volution Expanded Program Action Committee to the Department of Agri culture. 15. Commission on Population and National Nutrition Council to the De partment of Health.

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