MANILA, Philippines — More than 1 million workers in the Philippine government are now employed under Job Order (JO) and Contract of Service (COS) arrangements, putting a spotlight on the government’s growing reliance on non-permanent workers and the long-running issue of unfilled plantilla positions.
The figure was cited by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) during congressional budget deliberations, where lawmakers questioned why government agencies continue to depend heavily on contractual workers despite thousands of permanent positions remaining vacant.
The issue has placed job security, regularization and the future of government contractual workers at the center of a growing policy debate.
The latest ABS-CBN report said JO and COS workers account for nearly a third of the government workforce of about 3.29 million.
Lawmakers question government’s reliance on contractual workers
During the House Committee on Appropriations’ briefing on the CSC’s proposed 2027 budget, lawmakers pressed the commission to explain why many workers remain under temporary arrangements for years.
Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Roberto Nazal questioned why qualified JO and COS workers could not be matched with vacant plantilla positions.
Daily Tribune reported that Nazal cited the CSC’s earlier official inventory of 919,868 JO/COS workers, consisting of 629,862 Job Order workers and 290,006 Contract of Service personnel as of June 30, 2025.
The same CSC data showed that Region IV had the largest number of JO/COS workers at 127,517, followed by the National Capital Region with 106,846.
The numbers underscore just how deeply contractual employment has become embedded in government operations.
CSC says regularization is not as simple as filling vacancies
CSC Chairperson Marilyn Yap said one of the major obstacles to absorbing contractual workers into permanent positions is civil service eligibility and other qualification requirements.
The commission has introduced a preferential rating system for long-serving government workers taking the civil service examination. Under the program, qualified workers with lengthy government service may receive additional points, subject to the applicable requirements.
But passing the civil service examination alone does not guarantee appointment to a plantilla position.
Applicants must still meet the position’s required education, training, experience and other qualification standards, according to the CSC.
That distinction is crucial: years spent working under a JO or COS arrangement do not automatically convert into permanent government employment.
Government has already imposed a cap on JO and COS hiring
The controversy comes as the government is already attempting to control the growth of contractual employment.
The CSC, Commission on Audit (COA) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issued Joint Circular No. 1, series of 2025, revising the rules governing Job Order and Contract of Service workers.
Under the policy, agencies may continue to hire or renew JO/COS workers in 2026, but they generally cannot exceed their established baseline number of workers with contracts valid through the end of 2025.
The government said the measure is intended to regulate contractual hiring while preventing disruptions to ongoing programs and services.
At the same time, the policy recognizes the need to improve the welfare of workers who remain outside the regular civil service.
JO/COS workers do not receive the same benefits as regular employees
The DBM said JO and COS workers are not covered by civil service laws in the same way as regular government employees and their service is generally not credited as government service.
They also do not automatically receive the same benefits enjoyed by regular personnel, including standard leave benefits and several government allowances and incentives.
However, the revised 2025 rules provide for certain additional protections, subject to funding availability.
These include a premium payment of up to 20% of the worker’s salary or wage to cover contributions to government-mandated social security programs, as well as possible ancillary benefits such as overtime pay, reimbursement of actual travel expenses and flexible work arrangements.
Meanwhile, the Social Security System said it had registered more than 500,000 JO/COS workers and that more than 200,000 were regularly paying SSS contributions as of its 2025 year-end report.
The problem is especially visible in local governments
The debate is not limited to national government agencies.
Inquirer.net reported that CSC Commissioner Ryan Alvin Acosta told lawmakers that the government should study how existing Personal Services limits for local government units could be used to better regulate the number of JO and COS workers.
Acosta said LGUs have different needs and financial capacities, making a one-size-fits-all approach difficult.
He also pointed to a structural problem: some LGUs are required to fund certain positions while lacking sufficient resources to create additional plantilla items for lower-level workers who may have been serving for years.
The CSC is studying whether some positions currently required of LGUs could be made optional, potentially giving financially constrained local governments more room to create plantilla positions for long-serving workers.
A question the government can no longer avoid
The growing number of JO and COS workers raises a larger question about the way government staffing is designed.
If agencies depend on contractual workers year after year to perform essential functions, should those positions eventually become permanent?
And if qualified workers are already performing the jobs, why do vacancies remain unfilled?
For lawmakers, the issue is no longer simply about the number of contractual workers. It is about whether government has a clear, nationwide strategy to reduce excessive reliance on contractual employment, fill legitimate plantilla vacancies and provide qualified long-serving workers with a fair pathway into permanent government service.
For the more than one million workers now caught in that system, the answer could determine whether years of public service eventually lead to a permanent career—or another contract renewal.
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