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On ‘Optimization’ Bill: Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero during Wednesday’s plenary session, February 25, 2025, continues his defense of Senate Bill No. (SBN) 890 or the Optimization Bill, which is in substitution as an amendment to the proposed Rightsizing the National Government Act. Escudero confirmed the statement of Sen. Joel Villanueva that his version of the bill has the intent and content of the Optimization Bill. “It is actually essentially the same only that we added some provisions that was the product of our consultative meeting, namely, to add some employees’ organizations to various stages of the right-sizing process. Number two, to provide for a sunset clause, since this should not be ongoing for for an indeterminate period of time. And number three, we placed a different formula, which is inversely proportional to the length of service of the employee of the benefits he or she will be receiving,” the Senate chief said. “We also clarified the requirements that the government should undertake and comply with before they can affect any optimization on any agency of government. But essentially, the heart and soul of the bill would be essentially the same as what Senator Villanueva filed and that of this representation,” he added. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)