Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles welcomed the Civil Service Commission’s announcement to hold the government eligibility exams online.
CSC commissioner Aileen Lizada recently said the commission’s examination, recruitment, and placement office had been tasked to come up with alternative ways to conduct the exams.
The CSC suspended the first of two pen-and-paper examinations held annually due to the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine.
“Nagagalak tayo na kinikilala ng CSC ang pangangailangan na mag-adjust ayon sa dinidikta ng panahon. Kaisa ako ng ibang kababayan nating nananalig na maihabol pa natin na magkaroon ng civil service exam ngayong huling quarter ng taon,” Nograles said.
The neophyte lawmaker was among those who urged the CSC to conduct the exams online to provide workers displaced by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic with opportunities to fill vacancies in government.
Based on the Department of Budget and Management’s staffing summary, there are 177,874 vacant positions in government (including both civilian and military/uniformed personnel).
Nograles also thanked Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for backing the online exams.
“Malacañang’s backing is crucial, because the President can direct the other agencies to devote time and resources to ensure the exams can be held hitch-free,” the Harvard-trained lawyer said.
Nograles also urged other government agencies to shift their processes online.
“The times are calling for it. This is something we should have been doing already in the past that perhaps many of us have been viewing as ‘optional’. That’s not the case these days. We cannot over-emphasize this—we must go online as soon as possible,” said the lawmaker.
The postponement affected more than 293,000 people in 66 locations nationwide who were supposed to take the exams in March.
The transition of government frontline services online could help make operations much more efficient, besides eliminating the need for people to have to physically go to offices, Nograles also said.
“Hanggang ngayon takot ang mga tao na lumabas. This fear should guide us towards improving our services by identifying which of our operations do not actually need to be done in person, and make the necessary changes,” he added.
Government should eventually invest to ensure that it has a fully-working and fully-linked online infrastructure, the lawmaker said.
The CSC suspended the first of two pen-and-paper examinations held annually due to the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine. The exams are a requirement for appointment to government.
The postponement affected more than 293,000 people in 66 locations nationwide who were supposed to take the exams in March.