The Department of Transportation (DOTr) under Secretary Jaime Bautista has issued an order stripping attached agencies of authority to engage in activities or transactions exceeding P50 million without prior agency approval.
The mandate is seen as a cost control and transparency measure but not everyone, the various attached agency heads and personnel included, sees the measure in that light.
In a department order issued 28 February 2023, the affected attached agencies include the MRT-3, DOTr Regional Offices in Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) and CARAGA, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Philippine Railways Institute (PRI).
Specifically, for the attached agencies and offices mentioned, where the approved budget for a contract is above P50 million, they shall seek the approval of the undersecretary concerned, for the most part the undersecretary of administration and finance.
Also, transactions involving advance payment, billing and fund transfer to agencies where the contract is P50 million and above are subject to the approval of the Transportation Secretary.
The new directive, according to critics, could hamper and to some extent delay important government transactions, including the bidding for the production of motor vehicle license plates carried out by the LTO, or the bidding for spare parts and trains of MRT-3 and the Philippine National Railways as well as other vital infrastructure and the information-technology projects of attached agencies.
It is claimed the order prospectively limits the administrative functions of the attached agencies.
Instead of giving the heads of agencies authority for functions such as engaging job orders and contract service workers as well as appointment and/or contracts, renewal notices of termination, approval of expiration of contracts, acceptance of resignation and dropping from the rolls, these functions were instead given to the DOTr central office, specifically the undersecretary for administration and finance.
The same undersecretary has likewise been designated as approving authority for administrative matters as requests to render overtime pay of employees, application for leave, terminal leave, office clearance, issuance of travel authority, nomination to local and foreign scholarships, vehicle assignments, and other matters.
