“We create the laws to protect employees, but we ourselves treat employees under [job orders] and [contract of services] as second class citizens here in government.”

Bagong Henerasyon Partylist Rep. Roberto Nazal raised this concern before officials of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), questioning the government’s continued reliance on job order (JO) and contract of service (COS) workers despite numerous vacant plantilla positions.

Nazal noted that many individuals have worked for years in government under JO and COS arrangements without being absorbed into permanent positions.

Citing CSC data showing 919,868 contractual workers in government, the lawmaker questioned why qualified JOs and COS workers could not be matched with vacant plantilla positions.

“What is the CSC completely doing about the large number of unfilled plantilla positions across government while we continue to rely heavily on JOs and COS workers?” he asked.

“What is the CSC’s government-wide plan to match qualified JOs and COS workers with vacant plantilla positions, help those who lack eligibility to obtain it, and reduce both vacancies and dependence on contractual arrangements?” he added.

CSC Chairperson Marilyn Yap said one obstacle to absorbing contractual workers into plantilla positions is that some do not meet the required qualifications, particularly civil service eligibility.

Yap said the CSC has established a program that gives individuals who have worked in government for more than five years an additional 10 percent to their examination score, provided their original rating is not below 70 percent.

She stressed, however, that passing the examination does not automatically qualify an individual for a government position.

“There is a more relaxed avenue to enter government service. But after passing the civil service eligibility exam, they still need to comply with other qualification requirements such as experience, training, educational qualifications,” Yap said.

The CSC chairperson said the system was introduced following budget deliberations in previous years.

Nazal, however, maintained that a gap remained between government programs and their actual results.

He argued that if a similar employment practice were carried out by a private company, it could face a complaint before the Department of Labor and Employment.

“Let’s call a spade a spade. Sometimes, or often times what happens is there is favoritism or there is unwillingness to fill vacancies,” Nazal said.

“All departments have this issue. There are many plantilla positions that are not filled despite the numerous JOs and COS.”

Nazal argued that among the hundreds of thousands of JO and COS workers in government, there should be qualified individuals who could fill permanent positions.

Of the CSC’s proposed P4.04-billion budget for 2027, P725.7 million is allocated for its Civil Service Professionalization and Workplace Cooperation Program, which includes the administration of civil service examinations.