Chairperson Karlo Alexi Nograles of the Civil Service Commission (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Zamboanga Sibugay First District Rep. Wilter Palma on Tuesday suggested removing plantilla positions in the government that were unfilled for years after the Civil Service Commission (CSC) revealed that 203,000 government posts remain vacant.
CSC Chairperson Karlo Nograles revealed this figure during the House committee on appropriations’ hearing on the proposed 2025 budget of the CSC when Palma asked about it.
Plantilla posts are “permanent position items in the government with a corresponding authorized budget allotment in the annual General Appropriations Act.”
“So the unfilled [government] positions po natin is 203,079,” Nograles said.
He explained that government agencies have their human resources (HR) offices tasked to fill the vacancies.
“It’s the job of the agencies — national government agencies, local water districts, SUCs (state universities and colleges), local government units — to publish and fill out the vacancies,” Nograles said.
“In CSC, one of the things that we do is the prime HRM program. That prime HRM program is our way of assessing the maturity level of the HR offices. One way, one of the things that we look at is recruitment and placement so in other words, this is the way that the CSC not just agencies, to maybe perhaps become more mature in terms of their recruitment and placement,” he added.
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Department of Budget and Management officer-in-charge Director III Lulu Vispo said the agencies are having difficulty filling the vacancies due to qualifications, requirements, and low salary offers.
Palma suggested removing the unfilled plantilla positions.
“Probably, if they have not been filled up for the last five years, four years, it should be removed. If you are requiring a position, and let’s say, five years ago, and it has not been filled up, to me, you don’t need the job or that position,” the lawmaker said.
Nograles said the CSC is already in the final stages of its agreement with the University of the Philippines – National College of Public Administration and Governance.
According to Nograles, the agreement aims to address why there are many unfilled positions and to adjust the qualification standards for these jobs.
“Kasi pag na-adjust na yung qualification standards, and based on the experiences ng mga agencies, na-fill up rin naman po nila yung mga vacancies nila,” he explained.
(Based on the experience of the agencies, after they adjusted the qualification standards, their vacancies were filled.)