SEN. Bong Go has filed Senate Bill (SB) 1786, seeking to grant civil service eligibility to casual and contractual government employees who have rendered years of continuous and satisfactory service.
Go said the bill aims to institutionalize a fair and merit-based regularization framework for long-serving government workers, many of whom have remained in temporary employment arrangements despite performing essential public functions.
In his explanatory note, Go underscored that the 1987 Constitution guarantees security of tenure as a fundamental right of every Filipino worker and mandates the protection of the civil service from undue political influence. He noted that while the Civil Service Commission has consistently affirmed that security of tenure applies to personnel holding permanent positions, the continued practice of keeping workers in casual, contractual, job order (JO), or contract of service (COS) status runs counter to the spirit of public service.
Citing data from the Department of Budget and Management, Go said there are 832,812 contractual employees across government, with the majority assigned to local government units. As of 2024, approximately 580,323 — or 69.68 percent — are COS and JO workers in LGUs, many of whom perform frontline and technical roles but remain without permanent status and the full benefits accorded to regular civil servants.
Under SB 1786, incumbent casual and contractual employees in national government agencies who have rendered at least five years of continuous service would be considered for the grant of civil service eligibility. For those employed in LGUs, the required length of continuous service is set at 10 years.
The proposed eligibility would allow qualified workers to compete for permanent positions in government, subject to existing qualification standards and merit-based selection processes. The bill seeks to recognize long years of service as a pathway to eligibility without undermining the merit system mandated under civil service laws.
If enacted, the bill could significantly impact employment arrangements across national agencies and LGUs, potentially paving the way for thousands of long-serving workers to secure more stable career paths in government.
