Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles urged the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to conduct eligibility examinations online so that displaced workers could find new jobs in the government.
“I hope the sense of urgency is not lost on the CSC. Napakaraming bakanteng posisyon sa pamahalaan na maaari sanang ibigay sa mga nawalan ng trabaho dahil sa pandemya,” the neophyte lawmaker said.
The Department of Budget and Management’s staffing summary shows that out of 1,862,543 permanent positions in government, 177,874 have yet to be filled (including both civilian and military/uniformed personnel).
“So many of our government offices have shifted online. Our courts have online hearings, and so does Congress.”
Yet, the examination, which is a requirement for appointment to government, has yet to be held this year after the CSC suspended last March the first of two tests held annually because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The postponement affected more than 293,000 people in 66 locations nationwide who were supposed to take the March exams.
The CSC announced in June that it will not be conducting the exams this year.
“Nananawagan tayo sa CSC—madaliin po sana natin ang paghanap ng solusyon sa gusot na ito. Let’s not be an obstacle to the desire of our kababayan to find meaningful work in government,” Nograles said.
The solon insisted that instead of postponing the exams to 2021, the commission should have used the past months to adapt to the situation as other government entities have done.
“So many of our government offices have shifted online. Our courts have online hearings, and so does Congress.
“Let’s not be an obstacle to the desire of our kababayan to find meaningful work in government.”
“We have so many brilliant men and women in government, and we could have even enlisted the help of the academe and private sector, to come up with a workable system to hold the exams online,” the Harvard-trained lawyer bemoaned.
He also warned the CSC as well as other government agencies not to assume that everything would go back to normal come 2021.
The pandemic has caused a paradigm shift, he said, and the government should be the first to adapt to the seismic changes or it risks derailing the country’s own recovery efforts.
The CSC has said it is currently working with the IATF in finding alternative ways to administer the exams.