The Civil Service Commission (CSC) said on Monday, Oct. 13, that about 83,000 first-level government positions remain unfilled and are open to senior high school (SHS) graduates.

This was according to CSC chairperson Marilyn Yap, who stated that they must at least pass the sub-professional civil service examination. Yap said this during the subcommittee deliberations on the proposed 2026 budget of the agency. Yap explained to Senate Finance Committee Chairperson Sherwin Gatchalian that the commission has already revised the educational qualifications for entry-level government positions to allow K to 12 graduates to become eligible for public service.

Based on the CSC website, sub-professional eligibility qualifies them for first level positions such as clerical, trade, and custodial service positions, which require less than four years of college education, while first-level positions refer to the class of position that includes clerical, trades, crafts, and custodial service, positions which involve non-professional or subprofessional work in a non-supervisory or supervisory capacity.

However, Gatchalian expressed concern that while the SHS graduates are qualified, they might not pass the exam.

He also told the agency to study the so-called "workaround" that non-passers do, which is to become Contract of Service (COS) workers, which, according to him, "defeats the purpose" of the eligibility.

"But on a policy standpoint you have to look at the workaround kasi baka naman nag-COS sila dahil di sila pumapasa then it defeats the purpose of civil service eligibility (But from a policy standpoint, you have to look at the workaround, because it’s possible they chose the COS route since they couldn’t pass — and that would defeat the purpose of civil service eligibility)," Gatchalian added.

But Yap said that with their curriculum, they can pass the exam.

"Papasa ‘yan, sir. Mas fresh pa ‘yung kanilang utak sa general education principles (They will pass, sir. Their minds are still fresh when it comes to general education principles)," she said.

“Although there is also the cultural thing, sir. Ang karamihan ng ahensya natin, ang preference pa rin [college] graduates (a lot of our agencies still prefer college graduates). ‘Yun ang masakit (that's the painful part). Unless we do some affirmative action and ask and tell them, could you please hire at least these people for these [positions]?” she added.

Yap admitted during the hearing about the already "outdated" qualification standards in the government.

“Ang last review ho was 15 years ago. Marami nang outdated na positions, marami nang mababa ang sweldo na positions…Ang sweldo ng mga IT, ang bababa (The last review was 15 years ago. Many positions are now outdated, and many still have low salaries… The salaries of IT personnel, in particular, are very low),” she said.