CHAPTER 14: THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

COMPOSITION AND QUALIFICATION

Under RA 10149, a corporation owned or controlled corporation, or GOCC:

*Section 1

The original requirement for possession of a college degree is replaced with the
phrase with proven capacity for public administration as not any college degree
can ensure such competence.

refers to any agency organized as a stock or non-stock corporation, vested

with functions relating to public needs whether governmental or
proprietary in nature

owned by the Government of the Philippines directly or through its

instrumentalities either wholly or where applicable, as in the case of stock
corporations, to the extent of at least a majority of its outstanding capital
stock

The staggering of the terms of the members is intended not only to lessen the
opportunity of the President to appoint a majority of the body during his term, but
also to ensure the continuance of the body, which always retains 2/3 of its
membership even as 1/3 is vacated every 2 years.
It is now expressly provided that no member of the Commission shall be designated
in a temporary or acting capacity.

Examples of government owned or controlled corporations whose

employees are subject to the authority of the Civil Service Commission):

SCOPE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE

*Section 2(1)

National Electrification Administration

Corporations with original charters are those created by special law.

The National Irrigation Administration and local water districts

Government Service Insurance System

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation

Social Security System

The Philippine Casino Operators Corporation

Philippine Special Services Corporation

The Trade and Investment Development Corporation of the Philippines

Corporations which are subsidiaries of these chartered agencies, like the Manila
Hotel, are not within the coverage of the civil service.
All government owned or controlled corporations, regardless of their manner of
creation, were covered by the civil service.
It was held that under the 1987 Constitution the government owned or controlled
corporations included in the civil service are not only those created by special law,
or granted legislative charters, and not organized under the Corporation Code.
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Their subsidiaries, if organized under the general corporation law, are not
covered

The term GOCC includes government instrumentalities with corporate powers, or

GICPs, and government corporate entities (GCEs) which are instrumentalities or
agencies of the government which are neither corporations nor agencies integrated
within the departmental framework, but vested by law with special functions or
jurisdiction, endowed with some if not all corporate powers, administering special
funds, and enjoying operational autonomy through a charter.

Governmental financial institutions (GFis) refer to financial institutions or

corporations in which the government directly or indirectly owns majority of the
capital stock and which are either:

administering special funds, and enjoying operational autonomy, usually

through a charter.
-

1.

Registered with or directly supervised by the BSP

2.

Collecting or transacting funds or contributions from the public and places

them in financial instruments or assets such as deposits, loans, bonds, and
equity

The SC has acknowledged that the Manila International Airport Authority and the
University of the Philippines as governmental instrumentalities.
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Among the GICPs are:

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Manila International Airport Authority

The Philippine Ports Authority

Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System

The Laguna Lake Development Authority

The Philippine Fisheries Development Authority

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority

The Cebu Port authority

The Cagayan De Oro Port Authority

The San Fernando Port Authority

Asian Productivity Organization

This term includes regulatory agencies, chartered institutions and

government-owned or controlled corporations

While said corporations are government instrumentalities, they are loosely

called government corporate entities but not government-owned and
controlled corporations in the strict sense

It is established that government instrumentalities vested with corporate powers and

performing governmental or public functions need not meet the test of economic
viability.
The Constitution imposes no limitation when the legislature creates government
instrumentalities vested with corporate powers but performing essential
governmental or public functions. Congress has plenary authority to create
government instrumentalities vested with corporate powers provided these
instrumentalities perform essential government functions or public services.
It is interesting to note that the SC has considered the Boy Scouts of the PH as both
a government instrumentality and a government-owned or controlled corporation,
attached to DEPED. Its employees are therefore covered by civil service laws and
rules.
Government agency:
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Refers to any of the various units of the Government of the Republic of

the Philippines, including a department, bureau, office, instrumentality, or
GOCC, or a local government or a distinct unit therein

Government owned or controlled corporations may be created or established by

special charters in the interest of the common good and subject to the test of
economic viability.

Positions in the civil service are classified under the Administrative Code of 1987
into the career service and the non-career service.

Government instrumentality:

The career service is characterized by:

Refers to any agency of the National Government, not integrated within

the department framework, vested with some if not all corporate powers,

1.

Entrance based on merit and fitness to be determined as far as practicable

by competitive examinations, or based on highly technical qualifications

2.

Opportunity for advancement to higher career positions

3.

Security of tenure

The career service includes:

1.

Open career positions for appointment to which prior qualification in an

appropriate examination is required

2.

Commissioned officers and enlisted men of the Armed Forces, which shall
maintain a separate merit system

3.

Permanent laborers, whether skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled

The non-career service is characterized by:

1.

2.

Entrance on bases other than those of the usual tests of merit and fitness
utilized for the career service
Tenure which is limited to a period specified by law, or which is
conterminous with that of the appointing authority or subject to his
pleasure, or which is limited to the duration of a particular project for
which purpose employment was made

prescribed, in accordance with the provisions of laws, rules and standards

promulgated in pursuance thereof.
In the absence of appropriate eligible and it becomes necessary in the public interest
to fill a vacancy, a temporary appointment shall be issued to a person who meets all
the requirements for the position to which he is being appointed except the
appropriate civil service eligibility: Provided, that such temporary appointment shall
not exceed 12 months, but the appointee may be replaced sooner if a qualified civil
service eligible becomes available.
Temporary appointments do not have a definite term and may be withdrawn or
discontinued, with or without cause, by the appointing power.
The purpose of an acting or temporary appointment is to prevent a hiatus in the
discharge of official functions by authorizing a person to discharge those functions
pending the selection of a permanents or another appointee.
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An acting appointee accepts the position on the condition that he shall

surrender the office once he is called to do so by the appointing authority

(1) EXCEPTIONS

The non-career service includes:

1.

Elective officials and their personal or confidential staff

1.

Policy-determining

2.

Department heads and other officials of Cabinet rank who hold positions
at the pleasure of the President and their personal or confidential staff

2.

Primarily Confidential

3.

Emergency and seasonal personnel

3.

Highly technical positions

It is provided by the new Constitution that the Civil Service shall be administered by
the Civil Service Commission.
APPOINTMENTS
A permanent appointment shall be issued to a person who meets all the requirements
for the position to which he is being appointed, including the appropriate eligibility

Policy-determining position:
o

One charged with the laying down of principal or fundamental

guidelines or rules, such that of a head of a department

Primarily confidential position:

o

One denoting not only confidence in the aptitude of the

appointee for the duties of the office but primarily close
intimacy which ensures freedom of intercourse without
embarrassment or freedom from misgivings or betrayals of
personal trust on confidential matters of state
The position of chief legal counsel of the PNB, or of city legal
officer, is primarily confidential and highly technical, with the
former aspect predominating

The position of General Manager of a water district and Corporate

Secretary in a government-owned or controlled corporation have likewise
been considered as primarily confidential in character.
A highly technical position requires the appointee thereto to possess
technical skill or training in the supreme or superior degree.
PARTISAN POLITICAL ACTIVITY
No officer or employee in the Civil Service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in
any electioneering or partisan political campaign.
The second sentence is intended to uphold the freedom of expression guaranteed
under the Bill of Rights. This ought to be available even to members of the civil
service whose public positions should not inhibit them from the exercise of their
rights and duties as citizens.
Partisan Political Activity:
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Active support for or affiliation with the cause of a political party or

candidate

1.

Being a candidate for any elective office or delegate to any political

convention

2.

Being an officer or member of any political committee, party or

organization

3.

Delivering speeches, canvassing or soliciting votes or political

support or contributions for any political party or candidate or

4.

Becoming actively identified with the success or failure of any

candidate or candidates for election of public office

Particularly exempted from the prohibition against partisan political activity are
members of the Cabinet.
It should be stressed that even members of the armed forces are subject to the
prohibition against engaging in partisan political activity. And the reason should be
quite obvious: considering the physical strength of the military organization, its
direct involvement in partisan political affairs could exert an unhealthy pressure on
the electorate to the prejudice of our democratic institutions.
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But this provision should be interpreted to apply only to the active

members of the armed forces and not also the reservists

The purpose of the prohibition against partisan political activity is twofold:

1.

To prevent the members of the civil service from using the resources of
the government for the benefit of their candidates

2.

To insulate them from political retaliation from winning candidates they

have opposed or not supported

SELF-ORGANIZATION
The new Constitution provides that the right to self-organization shall not be denied
to government employees

This would include, among others,

The principal reason why workers should want to organize is so they can protect
their interest vis--vis their employers. In the case of civil servants, the employer is
the government and their terms of employment are governed by law and not

determined in the discretion of the management or by its agreement with the

workers.
TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES
Temporary employees generally do not have any fixed term and may be replaces at
pleasure, the theory being that they are named to their positions only because of the
absence of eligible and the necessity to fill the office in the meantime in the interest
of the public service.
It is implicit in their appointment that as soon as a permanent choice of an eligible is
made by the appointing power, the temporary employee shall give up his post in
favour of the new appointee.

Shall submit to the President and the Congress an annual report on its
programs

It has been ruled that though Civil Service Commission has the power to interpret its
own rules and any phase contained in them, with its interpretation being accorded
great weight and ordinarily controls the construction of the courts.
OATH
All public officials and employees, including members of the armed forces, took an
oath to support and defend it.
DISQUALIFICATIONS

It has been ruled that, even if the appointment were temporary, the appointee may
not be removed at will if said temporary is for a fixed period.

No elective official shall be eligible for appointment or designation in any capacity

to any public office or position during his tenure.

The new Constitution provides that temporary employees of the government shall
be given such protection as may be provided by law. Thus, the Congress may
provide, for example, that temporary employees who acquire civil service eligibility
for the positions occupied by them shall be automatically considered permanent
appointees thereto, or that temporary employees may not be replace during a fixed
period except for cause, or shall be entitled to the same material benefits, such as
leave privileges, during their incumbency.

It is likewise provided in Section 6 that no candidate who has lost in any election
shall, within 2 year after such election, be appointed to any office in the government,
or any government-owned or controlled corporations or in any of their subsidiaries.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CIVIL SERVICE

*Section 3
o

Shall establish a career service

Adopt measures to promote morale, efficiency, integrity, responsiveness,

progressiveness, and courtesy in the civil service

Strengthen the merit and rewards system

Integrate all human resources development programs for all levels and
rank

Institutionalize a management climate conducive to public accountability

The purpose is to discontinue the much-criticized practice, so common in

the past, of candidates-reject being nonetheless allowed to enter or re-enter
the public service by a grateful executive for whom they had rendered
considerable service during the campaign

Such appointments or reappointments constituted a defiance of the will of the

electorate, particularly if the same were made shortly after the election in which the
appointee had been rejected.

It is now provided that the appointments of these candidates can be

permitted only after the expiration of a period 1 year from the date of their
defeat in the elections. The disqualification is not made permanent because
defeat in an election does not mean that the candidate is entirely unfit for
public office

STANDARDIZATION OF COMPENSATION
*Section 5

One of the priority measures that the Congress is required to enact is the
standardization of compensation of government functionaries as a solution to one of
the basis causes of the discontent of many civil servants.
The fact is that because of the lack of such a system, there are many deserving civil
servants who receive lower salaries than their less competent colleagues, either
because the latter enjoy political partiality or are employed in the more affluent
offices that can afford a higher rate of compensation.
DOUBLE COMPENSATION
The prohibition against additional, double or indirect compensation has a dual
purpose:
1.

To inform the people of the exact amount a public functionary is receiving

from the government so they can demand commensurate services

2.

To prevent the public functionary from dividing his time among the
several positions held by him and ineptly performing his duties in all of
them because he cannot devote to each the proper attention it deserves

Exception: where the law allows him to receive extra compensation for services
rendered in another position which is an extension or connected with his basic work,
as where the chairman of the committees on education in the 2 houses of the
Congress may collect allowances as ex officio members of the UP board of regents.
The Court affirmed that the pensions and gratuities mentioned in the 2 nd paragraph
of Section 8 refer to compensation already earned, for instance by a retiree. A
retiree receiving pensions after retirement can continue to receive such pension or
gratuity even if he accepts another government position to which another
compensation is attached.
The purpose of the prohibition against acceptance of any present, emolument, office
or title of any kind from any foreign state is to insulate the public functionary from
improper foreign influence, which may be exerted on him to the prejudice of the
national interest.