Organization of Civil Service Commission

Policy and governing principles

Section 2 makes it the State policy to ensure and promote the Constitutional mandate that appointments in the Civil Service shall be made only according to merit and fitness.
Section 2 requires a progressive system of personnel administration within the public service.
Section 2 directs the adoption of measures to promote morale, responsibility, integrity, loyalty, efficiency, and professionalism in the Civil Service.
Section 2 establishes the Civil Service Commission as the central personnel agency to set standards and enforce laws and rules governing selection, utilization, training, and discipline of civil servants.
Section 2 states that a public office is a public trust and public officers must remain accountable to the people with the highest degree of responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency.
Section 2 provides for de-centralization in personnel matters, with departments and other offices delegating powers and functions to their regional offices or similar units.

Definitions and key terms

Section 3 defines Agency as a bureau, office, commission, administration, board, committee, institute, corporation (governmental or proprietary), or any unit of the National Government, and provincial, city, or municipal government.
Section 3 defines an Appointing officer as the person or body authorized by law to make appointments in the Philippine Civil Service.
Section 3 defines Class as positions sufficiently similar in duties/responsibilities and requiring similar qualifications that can be treated alike for administrative and compensation purposes.
Section 3 defines Commission as the Civil Service Commission.
Section 3 defines Chairman and Commissioner by their respective roles as Commission officers.
Section 3 defines Eligible as a person who obtains a passing grade in a civil service examination or is granted a civil service eligibility and whose name is entered in the register of eligibles.
Section 3 defines Examination as a civil service examination conducted by the Commission and its regional offices, or by other agencies with Commission assistance/coordination, or those delegated pursuant to the decree.
Section 3 defines Form as those prescribed by the Civil Service Commission.

Coverage: civil service employment

Section 4 provides that the Civil Service embraces every branch, agency, subdivision, and instrumentality of the government, including every government-owned or controlled corporation performing governmental or proprietary functions.
Section 4 requires classification of positions into career service and non-career service.
Section 5 characterizes the Career Service by: (1) entrance based on merit and fitness determined as far as practicable by competitive examinations or based on highly technical qualifications; (2) opportunity for advancement; and (3) security of tenure.
Section 5 enumerates the Career Service components, including open career positions, closed career positions (scientific/highly technical with their own merit systems), Career Executive Service positions (appointed by the President), Foreign Service Officers (appointed by the President), AFP commissioned officers and enlisted men (with separate merit systems), GOCC personnel not in non-career service, and permanent laborers.
Section 6 characterizes the Non-Career Service by: (1) entrance on bases other than usual merit-and-fitness tests of the career service; and (2) tenure limited by law, by coterminous or pleasure, or limited to a project’s duration (with project employment purpose).
Section 6 enumerates Non-Career Service categories including elective officials and their staff, Cabinet-rank heads and their staff, commission/board chairmen and members with fixed terms and their staff, contractual personnel for specific work/job (with a specific period and in no case exceeding one year), and emergency and seasonal personnel.
Section 7 groups Career Service classes requiring examinations into three major levels: first level (clerical/trades/crafts/custodial—less than four years college studies); second level (professional/technical/scientific—at least four years college work up to Division Chief level); and third level (Career Executive Service).

Commission structure, appointment, and offices

Section 8 establishes an independent Civil Service Commission composed of a Chairman and two Commissioners responsible for effective discharge of Commission functions.
Section 8 provides that the Chairman and Commissioners are appointed by the President for a term of seven years without reappointment.
Section 8 provides initial staggering for the first appointees: one serves seven years, another five years, and the third three years; vacancy appointments are only for the unexpired portion.
Section 8 requires eligibility for Chairman/Commissioners: natural born citizen, at least thirty-five years of age at appointment, a holder of a college degree, and must not have been a candidate for any elective position in the election immediately preceding appointment.
Section 8 fixes annual compensation at sixty thousand pesos for the Chairman and fifty thousand pesos for each Commissioner, and provides that such compensation shall not be decreased during incumbency.
Section 8 prohibits any Commission member during tenure from engaging in the practice of any profession, managing any business, or being financially interested directly or indirectly in any contract/franchise/privilege with the government (including subdivisions, agencies, or GOCCs).
Section 12 provides that the Commission operates through: (1) Office of Recruitment, Examination and Selection; (2) Office of Career and Employee Development; (3) Office of Personnel Planning and Program Evaluation; (4) Office of Personnel Relations; (5) Office of Legal Affairs; and (6) Administrative Service.
Section 12 authorizes maintaining regional offices as exigencies require, consistent with the Integrated Reorganization Plan or as provided by law.

Core powers, functions, and supervision

Section 9 provides that the Commission administers the Civil Service and enforces constitutional and statutory merit-system provisions.
Section 9 requires the Commission to prescribe, amend, and enforce rules and regulations for carrying out the decree; such rules become effective after the thirty-day publication rule.
Section 9 empowers the Commission to promulgate policies, standards, and guidelines and adopt plans and programs to promote economical, efficient, and effective personnel administration, and to prescribe all required forms for publications, examinations, appointments, and records.
Section 9 requires the Commission to advise the President on personnel management matters and assist improvement of personnel units and programs in departments and agencies.
Section 9 authorizes appointment of the Commission’s personnel and overall supervision and control of Commission activities.
Section 9 provides supervision/coordination of civil service examinations administered by departments concerned under specified Reorganization Plan arrangements.
Section 9 requires the Commission to provide leadership and assistance for development and retention of a competent and efficient public workforce.
Section 9 mandates Commission approval for appointments (original or promotional) to civil service positions, except for presidential appointees, AFP members, police forces, firemen, and jailguards; the Commission disapproves appointments where appointees lack appropriate eligibility or required qualifications.
Section 9 provides that an appointment requiring Commission approval takes effect immediately upon issue by the appointing authority if the appointee assumes duties immediately, remains effective until disapproved, and disapproval does not excuse the appointing authority’s liability for appointments issued in violation of law or rules.
Section 9 requires the Commission to keep a record of civil service appointments and requires submission of appointments requiring Commission approval within thirty days from issuance, otherwise the appointment becomes ineffective thirty days thereafter.
Section 9 authorizes periodic inspection and audit of personnel work programs across departments and agencies (including GOCCs), periodic review of delegated decisions/actions, and application of appropriate sanctions when necessary.
Section 9 gives the Commission power to hear and decide administrative disciplinary cases instituted directly with it or brought to it on appeal, in accordance with Section 37.
Section 9 grants authority to issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum, require production of books and papers pertinent to investigations and inquiries, summon witnesses, and perform related investigatory actions under constitutional authority.
Section 9 requires an annual report to the President evaluating merit system progress and implementation problems.

Chairman duties and executive director

Section 10 provides that the Chairman directs Commission operations, including internal administration, under Commission policies and resolutions.
Section 10 requires the Chairman to establish standard operating procedures for effective Commission operations.
Section 10 requires transmittal to the President of rules, regulations, and guidelines needing Presidential attention, including annual and other periodic reports as necessary.
Section 10 authorizes issuance of appointments and enforcement of administrative discipline decisions involving Commission officials and employees.
Section 10 provides that the Chairman delegates functions to Commission officials.
Section 10 requires submission of the Commission’s annual and supplemental budgets.
Section 10 establishes an Executive Director in the Office of the Chairman responsible for implementing Commission policies/rules/standards, coordinating/supervising regional and other Commission offices’ activities, reporting operations to the Chairman, and performing assigned functions.

Regional offices and reorganization limits

Section 13 provides that regional offices enforce Civil Service Law and Rules for personnel actions of national and local agencies in the region and the conduct of public officers/employees.
Section 13 authorizes regional offices to conduct recruitment and examination for government-wide positions in the region.
Section 13 requires regional offices to provide technical advice and assistance on personnel administration to agencies within the region.
Section 13 authorizes other functions assigned by the Commission.
Section 14 authorizes the Commission to reorganize its internal structure subject to Presidential approval, but restricts that authority so it shall not extend beyond December 31, 1976.

Personnel rights, qualifications, and appointments

Section 15 affirms that public office is a public trust and requires public officers and employees to serve with the highest degree of responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency and remain accountable to the people.
Section 19 requires that opportunity for government employment be open to all qualified citizens, with positive efforts to attract the best qualified.
Section 19 requires employee selection based on fitness to perform duties and assume responsibilities.
Section 19 mandates promotion consideration when vacancies occur in first-level Career Service positions: employees in the department who occupy the next lower positions in the occupational group (and in functionally related occupational groups) and are competent, qualified, and appropriately eligible must be considered.
Section 19 mandates promotion consideration for second-level Career Service vacancies similarly for employees in the government service who occupy next lower positions and are competent, qualified, and properly eligible.
Section 19 directs each department or agency to evolve its own screening process, including tests of fitness, consistent with Commission standards and guidelines, and to form promotion boards for criteria, tests/interviews, and systematic assessment of training and experience.
Section 19 requires vacancies not filled by promotion to be filled through transfer, reinstatement, re-employment of persons separated through reduction in force, or appointment of persons with appropriate civil service eligibility.
Section 19 grants a right to appeal for a “qualified next-in-rank” employee to the department head, and finally to the Office of the President, against certain appointment outcomes, including appointment favoring another next-in-rank who is not qualified, appointment not next-in-rank, transfer-in or reinstatement/original appointment by nonconforming next-in-rank outcomes, and provides that final appeal to the department head applies when appointment is issued to a qualified next-in-rank employee.
Section 19 requires that before deciding a contested appointment, the Office of the President consult the Civil Service Commission.
Section 19 defines “qualified next-in-rank” for purposes of appeals as a permanent appointee to a position previously determined as next-in-rank to the vacancy and meeting requisites approved by the appointing authority and approved by the Commission.
Section 19 requires qualification in an appropriate examination for appointment to first and second career service levels, and prohibits appointing any person who is not a civil service eligible actually available for appointment even in temporary capacity, except when immediate filling is urgently required in the public interest or when the vacancy is not permanent, allowing temporary appointments of non-eligibles in the absence of eligibles actually and immediately available.
Section 19 protects eligibilities acquired prior to effectivity from being affected.
Section 19 provides that an eligibility acquired by passing an examination qualifies a person for positions requiring a lower eligibility if other appointment requirements are met.
Section 19 provides that persons who acquired civil service eligibility after passage of the Integrated Reorganization Plan may avail themselves of those eligibilities within a period not exceeding five years.
Section 20 defines qualification standards as minimum requirements for classes of positions in education, training, experience, civil service eligibility, physical fitness, and other qualities, and provides that degree of qualifications is determined by the appointing authority based on qualification standards for the position.
Section 20 requires qualification standards to be used for civil service examinations, as guides in appointments and personnel actions, for adjudicating protested appointments, for determining training needs, and for inspection and audit.
Section 20 requires qualification standards administration to continually provide incentives toward professional growth and foster the career system.
Section 20 requires departments or agencies to establish, administer, and maintain qualification standards with Commission assistance and approval and in consultation with the Wage and Position Classification Office.
Section 21 requires simultaneous release of results of any civil service examination held in multiple places on the same date.
Section 22 requires names of passing examinees be entered in a register of eligibles arranged by general ratings and containing information the Commission deems necessary.

Personnel actions and employment status

Section 24 requires that all appointments in the career service be made only according to merit and fitness as determined as far as practicable by competitive examinations.
Section 24 prohibits appointment of a non-eligible whenever a civil service eligible actually available for and ready to accept appointment exists.
Section 24 defines personnel action and includes appointment through certification, promotion, transfer, reinstatement, reemployment, detail, reassignment, demotion, and separation.
Section 24 requires all personnel actions to follow Commission-promulgated rules, standards, and regulations.
Section 24 (Appointment through certification) requires certification from a list of qualified persons by the Commission from the appropriate register of eligibles and requires the selected person to meet all position requirements.
Section 24 (Probation and character investigation) requires a six months probationary period and thorough character investigation to acquire permanent civil service status; a probationer may be dropped for unsatisfactory conduct or lack of capacity any time before probation ends, and the action is appealable to the Commission.
Section 24 (Promotion) defines promotion as movement to a position with increased duties/responsibilities as authorized by law, usually with increased pay, and allows movement between departments/agencies or within the same department/agency.
Section 24 (Transfer) defines transfer as movement to equivalent rank/level/salary without break in service requiring issuance of an appointment.
Section 24 (Transfer not disciplinary) provides transfer is not disciplinary when made in the interest of public service; the employee must be informed of reasons, and an employee may appeal if there is no justification.
Section 24 (Career/non-career boundary) provides that movement from the non-career service to the career service is not considered a transfer.
Section 24 (Reinstatement) allows reinstatement for persons permanently appointed to career service who were separated through no delinquency or misconduct, to a qualified position in the same level.
Section 24 (Reemployment) requires names of those permanently appointed and separated due to reduction in force and/or reorganization to be entered in a list for selection for reemployment.
Section 24 (Detail) defines detail as movement without issuance of an appointment, allowed only for limited periods for employees in professional/technical/scientific positions; an employee may appeal, and pending appeal, the detail decision is executory unless the Commission orders otherwise.
Section 24 (Reassignment) allows reassignment within the same agency, provided it does not involve reduction in rank, status, or salary.
Section 25 provides that appointment in the career service is permanent or temporary.
Section 25 (Permanent status) requires permanent appointment to meet all requirements including appropriate eligibility.
Section 25 (Temporary appointment) permits temporary appointment in the absence of appropriate eligibles when necessary in the public interest, but limits temporary appointments to twelve months and requires replacement sooner if a qualified civil service eligible becomes available.
Section 26 provides that salary adjustments due to pay level increases or position upgrading that do not change qualification requirements do not require new appointments, while copies of salary adjustment notices must be submitted to the Commission for record purposes.
Section 27 requires reduction in force to compare those in the same group/class based on relative fitness, efficiency, and length of service, and to lay off those least qualified for remaining positions.

Career development, performance, relations, and grievances

Section 28 declares career and personnel development as a primary government concern and mandates a continuing program for all government employees at all levels, based on an integrated national plan.
Section 29 requires each department or agency to prepare career and personnel development plans integrated into a national plan by the Commission, including merit promotions, performance evaluation, in-service training (including overseas and local scholarships and training grants), job rotation, suggestions and incentive awards, and provisions for health, welfare, counseling, recreation, and similar services.
Section 30 requires merit promotion plans per department/agency, administered in accordance with Commission rules, regulations, and standards, and including a definite screening process with tests of fitness consistent with Commission guidelines; it authorizes promotion boards subject to Commission criteria.
Section 31 requires a performance evaluation system for all career service officers and employees, administered under Commission rules, regulations, and standards, and designed to continually foster improvement of individual efficiency and organizational effectiveness.
Section 31 requires that performance evaluation plans be approved before performance evaluation results are given or used as basis for personnel action, and requires periodic informing of each employee by the supervisor of the evaluation.
Section 32 makes the Commission responsible for coordination and integration of continuing personnel development for first and second levels, with centralized training conducted by central staff agencies and specialized institutes, and assistance for department/agency/local participants where warranted.
Section 32 assigns functional training responsibilities among: encourages executive development programs by public/private colleges and universities; requires centralized training/assistance in functional specialization by the Commission, Commission on Audit, Budget Commission, General Services Administration, and other central staff agencies; and requires in coordination with the Commission, the Department of Local Government and Community Development to undertake local government training programs.
Section 32 requires each department/agency/province/city to establish, maintain, and promote a systematic personnel training action plan at all levels in line with Commission standards, and to maintain training staffs and use available training facilities.
Section 33 mandates a government-wide employee suggestions and incentive awards system administered under Commission-promulgated rules, standards, and regulations.
Section 33 authorizes the President or head of department/agency to incur necessary expenses for honorary recognition of subordinate officers and employees whose suggestions, inventions, superior accomplishment, or other personal efforts contribute to efficiency, economy, improvements, or extraordinary acts/services in the public interest, including recognition tied to their official employment, under Commission rules.
Section 34 requires the Commission to provide leadership and assistance for employee relations programs in departments/agencies, and requires each head to take proper steps for supervisor-employee relations and improved employee morale.
Section 35 grants employees the right to present complaints or grievances to management for expeditious adjudication and the right to appeal decisions to higher authorities; it also requires departments/agencies to promulgate rules for expeditious, fair, equitable adjustment in accordance with Commission policies.

Administrative discipline: grounds and general rules

Section 36 provides that no officer or employee in the Civil Service shall be suspended or dismissed except for cause as provided by law and after due process.
Section 36 provides that disciplinary grounds include: dishonesty; oppression; neglect of duty; misconduct; disgraceful and immoral conduct; being notoriously undesirable; discourtesy; inefficiency and incompetence; receiving for personal use of a fee/gift/valuable thing in hope/expectation of favor; conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude; improper solicitation of contributions; violation of Civil Service Law/rules or reasonable office regulations; frequent unauthorized absences/tardiness and loafing; habitual drunkenness; gambling prohibited by law; refusal to perform official duty or render over time service; disgraceful/immoral/dishonest conduct before entering service; physical/mental incapacity due to immoral/vicious habits; borrowing money by superior officers from subordinates or lending by subordinates to superior officers; usurious lending; willful failure to pay just debts or willful failure to pay taxes due to the government; contracting loans with persons having business relations with the office; pursuing private business/vocation of profession without required permission; insubordination; engaging directly or indirectly in partisan political activities by one holding non-political office; conduct prejudicial to best interest of the service; lobbying for personal interest/gain in legislative halls/offices without authority; promoting sale of tickets for private enterprises not intended for charitable/public welfare purposes (and even in charitable cases if no prior authority); and nepotism as defined in Section 49.
Section 36 requires that except when initiated by the disciplining authority, no complaint shall be given due course unless it is in writing, subscribed, and sworn to by the complainant.
Section 36 provides that similar offenses require the same penalties and only one penalty shall be imposed in each case.
Section 36 authorizes the disciplining authority to impose one of the following: removal from service; transfer; demotion in rank; suspension not more than one year without pay; fine not exceeding six months’ salary; or reprimand.

Administrative jurisdiction, procedure, appeals, and summary

Section 37 requires the Commission to decide on appeal administrative disciplinary cases involving penalties of: suspension for more than thirty days; fine exceeding thirty days’ salary; demotion in rank or salary or transfer; or removal or dismissal.
Section 37 allows a private citizen to file directly with the Commission; the Commission may hear and decide or deputize departments/agencies or officials to investigate, and then require submission of results with recommended penalty or action.
Section 37 gives department/agency heads, provinces, cities, and municipalities jurisdiction to investigate and decide cases involving penalties not exceeding suspension for thirty days or fine not exceeding thirty days’ salary, and makes those decisions final in those penalty ranges.
Section 37 provides that when a bureau/office head decision is appealable to the Commission, the initial appeal is to the department and the final appeal is to the Commission; pending appeal, the decision is executory except when the penalty is removal, which is executory only after confirmation by the department head.
Section 37 states that appeals do not stop executory effect, and in suspension or removal cases the respondent is considered under preventive suspension during pendency of the appeal if he wins.
Section 38 provides that administrative proceedings may be commenced against a subordinate officer/employee by the proper head(s), local government head, chiefs of agencies, or regional directors, or upon sworn written complaint of other persons.
Section 38 requires sworn statements by complainant including testimony and witnesses and documentary evidence; if no prima facie case exists, the disciplining authority dismisses the case.
Section 38 requires notice to respondent in writing of the charges with copies of complaint, sworn statements, and documents; respondent must answer in writing under oath within not less than seventy-two hours after receipt.
Section 38 provides for dismissal if respondent’s answer is found satisfactory.
Section 38 requires a formal investigation even if respondent does not request one when merits cannot be decided judiciously without investigation.
Section 38 requires the investigation be held not earlier than five days nor later than ten days from receipt of the respondent’s answer and finished within thirty days from filing of charges, unless extended by the Commission in meritorious cases.
Section 38 requires decisions be rendered within thirty days from termination of investigation or submission of investigator’s report; the investigator’s report must be submitted within fifteen days from conclusion of investigation.
Section 38 provides that direct evidence consists of sworn statements and documents submitted, without prejudice to additional evidence unavailable at time of filing, and allows cross-examination based on the submitted evidence, with redirect and recross-examination after cross-examination.
Section 38 allows either party to use counsel and require attendance of witnesses and production of evidence through subpoena or subpoena duces tecum.
Section 38 requires investigations to ascertain truth without necessarily adhering to technical rules of judicial proceedings.
Section 39 provides that appeals (where allowable) must be made within fifteen days from receipt of decision, unless a petition for reconsideration is seasonably filed and is decided within fifteen days.
Section 39 requires notice of appeal to be filed with the disciplining office, which forwards records to appellate authority within fifteen days from filing of notice of appeal, with comment if any; it must state decision date, receipt date, and grounds.
Section 39 limits petition for reconsideration grounds to: (1) newly discovered evidence materially affecting the decision; (2) decision not supported by evidence on record; or (3) errors of law or irregularities prejudicial to the respondent; it allows only one petition for reconsideration.
Section 40 authorizes summary proceedings removing or dismissing without formal investigation when: the charge is serious and evidence of guilt is strong; respondent is recidivist or repeatedly charged with reasonable ground to believe guilt; or respondent is notoriously undesirable.
Section 40 requires summary actions by disciplining authority be undertaken with utmost objectivity and impartiality to prevent injustice; removal or dismissal except those by the President personally or upon his order may be appealed to the Commission.
Section 41 authorizes the proper disciplining authority to preventively suspend a subordinate pending investigation when charges involve dishonesty, oppression, grave misconduct, neglect of duty, or there are reasons to believe the respondent is guilty of removal-warranting charges.
Section 42 provides that if the administrative case is not finally decided within **ninety (90)