CSC eyes reward for gov’t contractuals
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles
MANILA, Philippines — The Civil Service Commission (CSC) is eyeing a “preferential rating system” for contractual and job order (JO) government workers who have been serving in their respective agencies for a long time, for them to be absorbed as full-time civil servants should they take the civil service examinations.
CSC chair Karlo Nograles disclosed during the agency’s swift budget deliberations at the House committee on appropriations on Thursday that there are a total of 642,077 workers in the government serving under the contract of service (COS) and JO arrangements as of its June 30 data.
Of that total, Nograles said 107,409 of COS and JO workers were from national government agencies; 487,149 in local governments; 22,937 in state universities and colleges; 6,593 in local water districts; and 17,979 in government-owned and -controlled corporations.
Limitations
During the budget hearing, Rep. France Castro of ACT Teachers party list asked Nograles if the CSC has any proposal to Congress to lessen the number of COS and JO workers.
Nograles responded that while the CSC always wanted to absorb those workers under COS and JO, he noted limitations on why they can’t be absorbed by their respective offices.
One limitation, he said, was that local governments are allowed by law to have COS and JO workers but in national agencies, they are covered by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Audit because their salaries are charged under the agency’s maintenance and other operating expenses and not from its personnel services.
“So it’s really under the issuance of the DBM and COA but this issuance is only until Dec. 31, 2022,” Nograles told the House panel.
He explained that by Dec. 31, COS and JO state workers should be absorbed by their respective agencies, although he noted that most positions in government offices require that the worker must be a civil service exam passer, which was another limitation that the commission saw.
Plus points
Because of this, Nograles said he and CSC Commissioners Aileen Lizada and Ryan Alvin Acosta have discussed giving a “preferential reward system” wherein COS and JO workers who have been in government offices for several years, would be given “plus points” once they take their civil service examinations.
Under this system, Nograles explained that this could boost the COS and JO workers’ chances of getting 80 percent in their exam scores, making them eligible for certain government positions. The passing score of 80 percent is applicable to all levels of the civil service exams.
The additional points will be credited based on the number of years the COS and JO workers have in their respective government offices.
“So, they still need to get the civil service exam and should they take it but fail to get an 80 [percent], there would be a number of points [to be added to their raw scores] equivalent to the number of years they served,” Nograles pointed out.
