President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed into law a measure that grants him the authority to reorganize and streamline executive branch agencies, aiming to create a more responsive and efficient bureaucracy.
Republic Act (RA) 12231, known as the Government Optimization Act, was signed and published in the Official Gazette on Monday as Marcos embarked on a five-day state visit to India.
This new law, a priority measure of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), empowers the President to strengthen, merge, or abolish agencies and functions deemed redundant or misaligned, while ensuring the welfare of civil servants is protected.
The law aims to “promote efficiency, equity, and ethical accountability” in government operations, improving frontline services by eliminating duplication, simplifying procedures, and advancing digitalization and e-governance.
Under the law, the President can scale down programs that are better suited for local governments or the private sector and transfer functions across agencies as needed. It also allows for the creation or deactivation of agencies based on recommendations from a newly established Committee on Optimizing the Executive Branch (COEB), chaired by the Executive Secretary.
The COEB will conduct studies on the mandates, functions, programs, projects, operations, structures, and manpower of various government agencies, and will develop the Optimized Organizational Structure and overall change management program for these entities.
The law applies to all executive branch agencies, including departments, bureaus, offices, and government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCC) not covered by RA 10149, the GOCC Governance Act of 2011. However, teaching and teaching-related positions, as well as military and uniformed personnel, are excluded from this law.
The legislature, judiciary, constitutional commissions, Office of the Ombudsman, and local government units may optimize their respective offices on an optional basis.
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