MANILA, Philippines?Top bureaucrats who are not Career Executive Service Officers (Ceso) can still keep their positions in the government for the next three months, ending their uncertainty about whether they still had jobs when a month-long extension of their term lapses today.

President Benigno Aquino III yesterday signed Memorandum Circular No. 2 allowing non-Ceso occupying Career Executive Service (CES) positions in all agencies of the executive branch to ?remain in office and continue to perform their duties and discharge their responsibilities until Oct. 31, 2010.?

Elena Bautista-Horn, former chief of the Presidential Management Staff, citing figures from the Career Executive Service Board, said a total of 1,179 officials were holding CES positions as of July 13 this year.

Security of tenure

To acquire security of tenure, government officials in third level positions (from directors to undersecretaries) must be appointed as Ceso by the President. Department secretaries cannot be appointed as Ceso because their terms are coterminous with the President?s.

The President?s circular said the order was also good ?until their resignations have been accepted and/or until their respective replacements have been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless they are reappointed in the meantime.?

?In cases where the head of agency or office has resigned and whose resignation has been accepted or is deemed separated on June 30, 2010, and no replacement has been appointed or designated,? according to the circular, ?the next-in-rank and most senior official of the agency or a senior official of the department to which said agency is attached, shall be designated?as officer in charge.?

Until Oct. 31

The order states that such officer in charge will work until Oct. 31 this year ?or until a replacement has been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless his designation is extended in the meantime.?

The new circular comes as a relief to non-Ceso officials occupying CES positions whose terms of service were due to end today, as per a previous order by Mr. Aquino.

In his first working day, President Aquino issued Memorandum Circular No. 1 (MC1) which extended the terms of all government contractual workers until July 31, or for as long as their respective companies require their services.

According to yesterday?s circular, officials whose service ends today or whose resignation has been accepted effective on the same period but with still no replacement ?shall be deemed separated from the service as of the date of termination or acceptance of resignation.?