President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has extended the engagement of contract of service (COS) and job order (JO) workers in the government whose contracts are set to expire by the end of this year.

In a news release Thursday, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Marcos issued the directive during a sectoral meeting with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Civil Service Commission (CSC) and Commission on Audit (COA) in Malacañang on Wednesday.

The hiring and services of existing COS and JO workers has been extended until Dec. 31, 2025, according to a separate post by Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM).

According to PCO, the President also ordered government agencies to “develop the skills and capabilities of COS and JO workers” with the help of higher learning institutions to help them pass the civil service examination, a requirement for government’s plantilla positions.

In addition, the Chief Executive asked the agencies to conduct a thorough study of the current state of the government workforce, including the COS and JOs.

“Pag-aralan natin (Let’s study), just look at the numbers, the data on average, government agencies. How many of their employees are contractual?” he said.

“How many items are in their plantilla proper are not filled? How many are contractual as a percentage of the total number of employees? Kasi the percentages are one of the most important. Then titingnan natin is average. (Because the percentages are one of the most important. Then we will look at the average) [It will] give us an idea how people are using the system,” the President pointed out.

COS refers to the engagement of the services of an individual, private firm, other government agency, non-government agency, or international organization as a consultant, learning service provider or technical expert to undertake a special project or job within a specific period, the PCO explained.

JO, on the other hand, refers to piece work (pakyaw), intermittent or emergency jobs to be undertaken for a short duration and for a specific piece of job, it added.

The CSC, COA, and DBM, through Joint Circular (JC) No. 1 s. 2017, established the rules and regulations governing the hiring of COS and JO workers in government until December 31, 2018 to allow agencies to reassess their organizational and staffing requirements.

Subsequent issuances extended the transitional period for the engagement of COS and JO workers to Dec. 31, 2022, and later until Dec. 31, 2024.

According to the Palace, since the issuance of CSC-COA-DBM JC No. 1, s. 2017, the number of COS and JO workers in the government have increased.

As of June 30 last year, 29.68 percent (832,812) of the government workforce were COS and JO workers, a 29.71 percent increase from 2022.

The top five national government agencies with the highest number of COS and JO workers include the Department of Public Works and Highways with 29,275; Department of Health with 18,264; Department of Education with 15,143; Department of Social Welfare and Development with 13,770; and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with 10,990. (PNA)