Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles said today that Malacanang support for the Civil Service Commission online civil service eligibility examinations bodes well for the test which had to be suspended this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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,” said Nograles.
Nograles had earlier urged the CSC to conduct the exams online to provide workers who have displaced by the pandemic with opportunities to fill vacancies in government.
CSC Commissioner Aileen Lizada last week said the commission's examination, recruitment, and placement office had been tasked to come up with alternative ways to conduct the exams. This includes a plan to hold online civil service eligibility exams as under the “new normal."
“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 (We're glad that the CSC has recognized the need to adjust based the dictates of the times. I'm one with with some of our countrymen who are yearning for a civil service exam in the last quarter of this year),” Nograles said.
"We cannot wait for a vaccine or cure before we go back to our normal lives. As long as the technology is there, we should use it, especially that we want to hire many government employees and many lost their jobs due to COVID-19," presidential spokesman Harry Roque said, referring to online civil service exams.
The CSC suspended the first of two pen-and-paper examinations this year 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.
Nograles also urged other government agencies to shift their processes online.
“The times are calling for it. This is something we should have done already in the past that perhaps many of us viewed as ‘optional.’ That’s not the case these days. We cannot overemphasize this – we must go online as soon as possible,” said the lawmaker.