President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered national government agencies to help contract of service (COS) and job order (JO) workers get permanent positions in government.
In a meeting with the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Interior and Local Government, Civil Service Commission and Commission on Audit in Malacañang on Wednesday, the Chief Executive called on government agencies to develop the skills and capabilities of COS and JO workers by reeducating and training them with the help of higher learning institutions in order for them to qualify for permanent positions in government.
This, after he was told by DBM Undersecretary Wilford Will Wong that while there are thousands of vacant plantilla positions in government, they cannot be filled up by the COS and JO workers because they do not have the required eligibility, mainly from the CSC.
The President said with the job experience of the COS and JO workers, many of whom have been in government for many years, they should be assisted to obtain the required qualifications so they can be placed in permanent positions. That way, he added, they will be able to have the same benefits as those in permanent positions.
The President said agencies should work with educational institutions to help them review for the CSC examinations.
Also present during the meeting were DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos, CSC Chairperson Karlo Alexei Nograles and COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba.
The goal is to build a pool of government workers that can perform and qualify for government’s plantilla positions, the President said, adding that he wanted the agencies to conduct a thorough study of the current state work force including the COS and JOs.
“Pag-aralan natin, just look at the numbers, the data on average, government agencies. How many of their employees are contractual?” he said.
“How many items are in their plantilla proper are not filled? How many are contractual as a percentage of the total number of employees? Kasi the percentages are one of the most important. Then titingnan natin is average. [It will] give us an idea how people are using the system,” he further inquired.
In the same meeting, President Marcos also decided to extend the engagement of COS and JO workers in government whose contracts will expire on December 31 this year.
COS refers to the engagement of the services of an individual, private firm, other government agency, non-government agency, or international organization as a consultant, learning service provider or technical expert to undertake a special project or job within a specific period.
JO, on the other hand, refers to piece work (pakyaw), intermittent or emergency jobs to be undertaken for a short duration and for a specific piece of job.
Earlier, the Civil Service Commission (CSC)-Commission on Audit (COA)-DBM Joint Circular (JC) No. 1, s. 2017, established the rules and regulations governing the hiring of COS and JO workers in government until December 31, 2018.
Subsequent issuances such as COA-DBM JC No. 2, s. 2020 and COA-DBM JC No. 2, s. 2022, extended the transitional period for the engagement of COS and JO workers to December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2024, respectively, to allow government agencies to reassess their organizational and staffing requirements.
Since the issuance of CSC-COA-DBM JC No. 1, s. 2017, the number of COS and JO workers in the government have increased.
As of June 30 last year, 29.68 percent (832,812) of the government workforce were COS and JO workers, a 29.71-percent increase from 2022.
The top five national government agencies with the highest number of COS and JO workers include the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), 29,275; Department of Health (DOH), 18,264; Department of Education (DepEd), 15,143; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), 13,770; and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), 10,990. PND
