The merger of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Landbank of the Philippines could be done before the end of the year, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Tuesday.

“By merging the two, it will now become the number one bank in the Philippines,” Diokno said during the Malacanang press briefing.

A merger of these two government financial institutions did not materialize during the Aquino administration.

He said the merger was also in line with the rightsizing program of the government.

“This is also consistent with our rightsizing. That’s also the focus of the President, rightsizing the bureaucracy. Because if we are able to do that successfully, then we have really money for more essential projects like healthcare, education for our people, and infrastructure,” Diokno said.

He said some employees may lose jobs as a result of the merging of the two banks, but they will be offered an "attractive" package.

“Definitely, there will be some people who will lose their jobs. There is a redundancy and then the number of branches will be reduced but there will still be branches,” Diokno told reporters.

“They can choose to retire and since they are government officials, they can retire under GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) or we can offer an attractive package for those who will be separated,” he added.

The rightsizing program aims to merge or remove government agencies that have duplicate or overlapping functions for a smaller bureaucracy that is quick and responsive.

According to Diokno, the national government would be able to save up to P5 billion from the first year of the implementation of the merger.

“For the projected operating cost savings due to the merger could reach at least P5.3 billion per year. So the next four years at least P20 billion,” Diokno said.

He said this was even “understated” because it does not include income from the sale of the redundant assets of DBP’s various properties.

Landbank has 752 branches while DBP has 147.

Diokno said only 22 branches of DBP will remain while they plan to establish a Landbank branch in all local government units in the country. Jaspearl Tan/DMS