LACSONS ANTI-CHEATING BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
CSC now armed to go after misfits and cheats wanting to enter government service

Efforts to clean up the ranks of the bureaucracy took a key step forward after a bill imposing heavy penalties on cheating in civil service examinations was finally signed into law.

The measure, crafted and sponsored by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson, cracks down not only on examinees but also on unscrupulous review centers, and seeks to dismiss government employees or officials participating in such cheating.

Public office is a public trust. As such, it is hereby declared the policy of the State to ensure that honesty, integrity and the merit and fitness principle be always the measure of entry into the public service, Lacson said in the measure, signed into law last March 25 as Republic Act 9416.

Because of this, he added, public service should not be a haven for misfits and cheats.

Lacson filed the measure as Senate Bill 2152, which the Senate passed on Dec. 21 last year. The Lower House approved a counterpart measure last Jan. 31.

It outlaws mere possession of Civil Service Commission (CSC) examination-related materials like electronic program files or data, test booklets and answer sheets, and penalizes any individual, group or review center for acts and omissions involving such items.

Offenses penalized by the law include impersonation, use of kodigo or cheat sheets, employing insiders in the examination room to provide examinees with answers, tampering with exam records, switching examinee numbers, and possession or use of fake certificates of eligibility.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) will also have exclusive jurisdiction to investigate government employees and private individuals and decide over cheating cases, and offer immunity from prosecution to witnesses.

Immunity from prosecution may be granted by the CSC to any person upon whose testimony rests the prosecution and/or conviction of other individuals or groups perpetrating examination irregularities, Lacson said in the measure.

Government workers convicted for violating the law face dismissal from the service and forfeiture of their benefits and eligibility, and are perpetually barred from re-entering government service.

Private individuals convicted for violating the law face up to 12 years imprisonment and a maximum P50,000 fine, and will be disqualified from taking any government examination or entering government service.

If the person found guilty is an employee, owner or member of the board of directors of a review center, he shall be likewise penalized as provided in this Act and the license/permit to operate as review center shall likewise be revoked.