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Villanueva on Unfilled Government Positions: Sen. Joel Villanueva, during the marathon hybrid plenary deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget Monday, November 16, 2020, urges the executive branch, particularly the economic managers, to work on filling up the unfilled positions in different departments of the government. Villanueva noted that this year, 177, 912 positions are unfilled and the number will increase further to 178,009 next year. He cited the 14,553 unfilled positions in the Department of Health; 43,780 in the Department of Education; 4,745 in the Department of Public Works and Highways; and, 3,511 unfilled positions in the Department of Agriculture. Finance Committee chair Sen. Sonny Angara said it is not the policy of the government to keep the positions vacant as he encouraged the departments to fill existing vacant positions. “I would like to believe the answers made by our distinguished chairperson of the Committee on Finance that this is not a policy, but i’m looking for actions from our respective departments, particularly the economic managers and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to look into this... to do something about it,” Villanueva said.(Screen grab/Senate PRIB)