Manila: Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cesar Chavez is looking to regularize all contract of service (COS) employees in the agency by 2025. The new Communications chief made the pronouncement Monday during the presentation of the PCO budget at the House of Representatives. Chavez, who was appointed PCO chief last week by the President, said the regularization of the agency's 217 COS personnel is part of the proposed reorganization process and new organizational structure submitted in May 2024 and is currently being reviewed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). 'The PCO has already submitted to the DBM our proposed new structure last May 2024. According to the DBM, it is now being reviewed. Should it be approved, there will be hopefully a decrease in the number of COS positions by the end of 2024 and hopefully, no more COS positions by 2025,' Chavez said. 'There are a total of 217 COS personnel who we also aim to be regularized through the ongoing reorganization process,' h e said. The COS personnel, as highlighted by the Communications Chief, represent a fraction of the 485 positions as of June 30, 2024. He said there are 267 plantilla positions, with 207 filled and 60 still unfilled, and PCO-Human Resource Management is in the process of filling at least 50 percent of the vacancies by the end of 2024. Source: Philippines News agency