Contractuals, non-career government workers keep jobs until Oct. 31

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday decided to allow non-career service officials working in various government offices to continue until Oct. 31, 2010.

Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairman Francisco Duque III announced President Aquino signed a memorandum circular giving non-career executive service officers (CESO) another three months in their jobs.

Duque explained the new directive would also allow some 3,000 non-career executives the chance to secure eligibility by taking the civil service examinations.

“It’s a good move on the part of President Aquino,” Duque said.

“I hope it buys more time for them to attain the CESO rank,” he added.

Duque said the non-CESO officials who were supposed to lose their jobs yesterday under Memorandum Circular 1 already have eligibility but are lacking in CESO rank.

He said it would be studied if eligibility is enough to give them security of tenure and if not, the officials will have to take tests administered by the Career Executive Service Board.

Duque said the new order, Memorandum Circular 2, was signed Thursday night by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and received by the CSC yesterday.

Non-CESO officials earlier appealed to the President to withdraw Memorandum Circular 1 that declared their positions vacant effective June 30, 2010.

They said such large-scale dismissal would create a vacuum in leadership in many offices that are headed by college graduates and professionals who do not possess CESO eligibility.

The new memo stated that “all non-career executive service officials occupying career executive service positions in all agencies in the executive branch shall remain in office until Oct. 31.”

This will be so, according to the single-page document, “until their resignations have been accepted and/or until their respective replacements have been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless they are reappointed in the meantime.”

Government officials whose services have been terminated or “whose resignation has been accepted on or before July 31 but whose replacement has not yet been appointed, shall be deemed separated from the service.”

As for government posts whose chiefs have already left, and no replacements have yet been made, the next most senior official would take over as officer-in-charge “to perform the duties and discharge the responsibilities of the position until Oct. 31.”

This will be so “until a replacement has been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless his designation is extended in the meantime,” the new memo stated.

Likewise, all posts vacated by political appointees, even without replacements yet, remain vacant and the official concerned (who resigned or was terminated) “shall be deemed separated from the service.”

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the new memo to extend the services of non-CESO officials for three more months was necessary to ensure continuity in services.

“So as not to disrupt the delivery of basic services, it was deemed necessary to extend their (state workers) services until Oct. 31,” he said.

Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Group explained that department heads, or the Cabinet secretaries, will have the discretion to retain the services of the non-CESO officials under their supervision.

“It will be up to the department secretaries whether to retain or reject the appointments of non-career personnel or whether to rehire casual government employees. It’s their call, they already know what to do in their level,” Coloma said.    – Michael Punongbayan (The Philippine Star) with Delon Porcalla