QUEZON CITY – Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairperson Atty. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles on Friday, August 18 bared that there are now 204,054 vacant positions in the entire bureaucracy.
During a press conference hosted by Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Director General Undersecretary Jose A. Torres, Jr., Nograles said “the plantilla vacant positions in government today, as of June 2023, there are 204,054 job vacancies in the entire agencies, in all GOCCs (government-owned and controlled corporations), local water utilities, including the local government units (LGUs).”
Two weeks before the “123rd Philippine Civil Service Anniversary” in September this year, the CSC chief highlighted the three measures they are now undertaking in order to maintain the integrity and quality of civil service.
“Una, ang Prime HRM (Human Resource Management) ay isang paraan o mekanismo para maassess namin ang maturity ng HR. Only the BSP (Bangko Sentral Pilipinas) has the “gold” standard. One way for us to assess the maturity level of HR and to know how the HR assess those who submit their application, the applicant, and how they assess the applicant as far as qualification standards are concerned,” Nograles said.
“Pangalawa, isinusulong rin po ng CSC na magkaroon na ng HRO (Human Resource Office) sa lahat ng LGUs ng buong bansa. Kung maipasa ng Kongreso ang batas na ito, magkakaroon ng permanent HROs sa lahat ng LGUs sa buong bansa,” he added.
“Pangatlo, ang pagbibigay ng CSC Examinations, sapagkat karamihan sa applicants ay hindi eligible,” Nograles said.
Likewise, Nograles divulged “the CSC have already reached an unprecedented number of examinees such that there were 443,000 examinees in 2016, 448,000 in 2017, 519,000 in 2018, 520,000 in 2019, 17,000 in 2021 338,663 in 2022 but for 2023 in March, 381,607 for one exam alone ang actual na nagkaroon tayo ng exam after the pandemic.”
The CSC did not conduct a “paper and pencil” or “computerized” exam in 2020 because of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease) pandemic caused by the SARS Cov-2 virus.
“For this year alone (2023), we expect to have 370,000 examinees, aabot na po tayo sa 750,000 actual examinees,” Nograles stressed.
Nograles noted that if they find a funding, the CSC would like that the computerized exams will be conducted five times a week, or 100,000 more slots for the entire year which would total to 850,000 examinees per year, hence, more chances that the applicants will pass the examinations and to be hired in government.
Meanwhile, the CSC chief said “Sa budget hearing sa House of Representatives on Thursday, we are proud to say na napakita natin sa Congress na 98 percent ang budget utilization, In fact, humingi pa kami ng budget para sa digital solutions ng CSC.”
“We respect and protect the security of tenure of government employees. We recognize that the Executive Department has the prerogative to implement rightsizing,” Nograles said.
He assured that Republic Act 6656, otherwise known as an “Act Protecting the Security of Tenure of Government Workers”, will be fully complied with.
“With righsizing, itong panukalang batas, we ensure that ang mga affected, pag nag-reorganize, susundin ng government employees at sila ay malilipat sa comparable positions. Either they will be granted separation package or they will be placed in a pool of government workers to look for their new (available) positions,” Nograles said.
“Actually, even before, the government had been implementing “reorganization” or rightsizing under RA 6656. Kahit naman po walang law, pwede naman pong mag-implement ng rightsizing ang gobyerno,” he added. – By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
