RP to drop up to 8,000 govt workers

RP to drop up to 8,000 govt workers

MANILA: Up to 8,000 government workers are to be pensioned off
this year as part of a plan to trim the million plus-strong
Philippines bureaucracy, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin said
Tuesday.

Manila plans to convince between 6,000 and 8,000 civil
servants to agree to a voluntary retirement program this year
that will cost the government 10 billion pesos (US$188 million),
she said on ABS-CBN television.

However, no government agencies will be abolished and the
government is not ruling out hiring in other agencies that need
additional staffing, Boncodin said.

"The more important thing here is that we are able to
rationalize (government) functions," she said.

She said a trimmer bureaucracy could save the government
between six and seven billion pesos ($113-$131 million) annually.
-- AFP