A career official or a CESO is one who is appointed to a CES position and who possesses both the CES eligibility and appointment to a CES rank. (CESB Resolution No. 459 dated 08 October 2002, as amended; CESB Resolution No. 807 dated 10 july 2009, as amended)

A CESO enjoys the rights and privileges accorded to him/her by law on account of his/her CES rank such as:

(1) entitlement to the salary grade attached to his/her rank except when a CESO is appointed to a position with a higher salary than that of his/her CES rank, he/she is allowed to receive the salary of the position;

(2) one-step salary adjustment in the salary grade attached to his/her rank upon appointment or promotion to a CES position;

(3) another one-step salary adjustment in the salary grade attached to his/her rank upon promotional appointment to or adjustment in CES rank; and

(4) availment of the family/home visit privilege as a consequence of his/her reassignment or transfer from his/her original station in the exigency of service.

(CESB Resolution No. 807 dated 10 July 2009, as amended by CESB Resolution No. 1394 dated 31 May 2018; CESB Resolution No. 815 dated 10 September 2009)

A CESO may enjoy security of tenure after meeting two (2) significant requisites, namely: (1) CES eligibility; and (2) appointment to the appropriate CES rank. (General v. Roco, G.R. No. 143366, 29 January 2001; CESB Resolution No. 719 dated 21 February 2008)

Security of tenure in the CES is thus acquired with respect to rank and not to the position. The guarantee of security of tenure to members of the CES does not extend to the particular positions to which they may be appointed, a concept which is applicable only to the first and second-level employees in the civil service, but to the rank to which they are appointed by the President. (Cuevas v. Bacal, G.R. No. 139382, 06 December 2000; Ignacio v. Civil Service Commission, et al., G.R. No. 163573, 27 July 2005)

Relatedly, CESOs may only be separated from the service for cause, after due process or voluntary resignation, or dropping from the rolls. (CESB Resolution No. 455 dated 05 November 2002)

As a general rule, the CES eligibility is the appropriate eligibility requirement for appointment to a CES position. While a CESO or a CES eligible shall be given priority in an appointment to a CES position, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, in exceptional cases, is authorized to appoint any person to a CES position, provided that such appointee subsequently takes the required CES eligibility examination. (CESB Resolution No. 791 dated 10 February 2009, as amended; CESB Resolution No. 408 dated 25 March 2002; Paragraph 5(c), Article IV, Part III of the Integrated Reorganization Plan, adopted and approved under Presidential Decree No. 1 dated 24 September 1972, as amended; CESB Resolution No. 619 dated 20 March 2006).