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Villanueva cites overlapping functions of gov’t agencies: Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva stresses that the functions of several agencies under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) overlap with those of other government institutions. During Thursday’s plenary debates November 17, 2022 on the proposed 2023 budget of the department, he also asked if the DOST already conducted an evaluation or study of the functions of its 18 attached agencies. Villanueva cited as examples the following institutions: the DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Research and Development; the Department of Agriculture (DA)-National Fishery Research and Development Institute, and the DA-Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries which, according to the senator, have similar duties and responsibilities. “I am very supportive of the rightsizing idea but everytime I talked about rightsizing it does not mean downsizing, it doesn't mean that you will terminate a government employee. No, instead you can retrain, retool, and you can even increase the number of employees of a certain government unit. It is making the agency more effective and efficient,” Villanueva said. Sen. Francis “Tol” N. Tolentino, who sponsored the DOST budget, agreed with the assessment of the majority leader that indeed there are government agencies that have overlapping functions. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)