To fill out CSC Form 48, write your full name and the covering month at the top, then record your actual morning and afternoon arrival and departure times in the grid for each working day, sign the certification at the bottom, and route the form to your immediate supervisor for verification before it goes to HR. The Civil Service Commission requires every government officer and employee to log daily attendance on this form or through an authorized biometric system, and the completed record becomes the basis for salary, leave credits, and overtime pay.1Civil Service Commission. CSC Resolution No. 2500358 – Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions
Getting a Copy of the Form
Blank copies are distributed through your agency’s HR or administrative division. You can also download the template from the CSC website (csc.gov.ph) and from many agency portals that publish it as an appendix to their internal guidelines. The form is a single page. Some offices hand out pre-printed versions with the agency name and official hours already filled in.
If your office uses a biometric scanner or bundy clock as the primary attendance system, you may still need the paper Form 48 as a backup or monthly reconciliation. Confirm with HR which format your agency treats as the record of reference.
What Goes in Each Part of the Form
The header asks for your full legal name and the month and year the record covers. Directly below, the form notes the agency’s official arrival and departure times. The standard schedule runs 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a one-hour lunch break, though agencies on flexible hours will show a different window.
The main grid has one row per calendar day and four time columns: morning arrival, morning departure (lunch out), afternoon arrival (lunch in), and afternoon departure. Write the actual time you arrived at and left your workstation, not the scheduled time. If your agency uses a bundy clock or biometric scanner, the timestamps from that system should match the times on your Form 48. CSC Memorandum Circular No. 21, Series of 1991, allows other means of recording attendance as long as the employee’s name, signature, and actual arrival and departure times appear on the record and can be verified.2Supreme Court E-Library. CSC Memorandum Circular No. 21 – Policy on Working Hours for Government Officials and Employees
At the bottom sits a certification line where you attest that the entries are accurate, followed by a “verified correct” line for the head of office or authorized supervisor. Both signatures are required. A DTR missing either is treated as incomplete and will not move to payroll.
Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays
The grid includes rows for Saturdays, which some agencies use for half-day or skeleton staffing. Days you did not report to work — Sundays, holidays, or approved leave — are left blank or marked according to your agency’s internal convention. Do not enter fabricated times for days you were absent. Leave days should be supported by an approved leave form instead.
Overtime and Night Hours
If you rendered overtime or worked between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM, your entries need to reflect the actual clock-in and clock-out times covering those periods. Those timestamps are what payroll uses to compute night shift differential and any authorized overtime pay. Record the full span honestly. Discrepancies between your written entries and the biometric log raise questions rather than produce extra compensation.
Flexitime and Compressed Workweek Entries
Agencies on flexitime must still require at least forty hours per week across five days, excluding lunch. Flexitime hours can start no earlier than 7:00 AM and end no later than 7:00 PM, and the agency head must approve each employee’s chosen schedule.3Civil Service Commission. Flexitime – CSC Forum On your Form 48, this simply means your arrival and departure times will fall outside the standard 8-to-5 window. Record your actual times as usual. Weekly hours cannot drop below forty regardless of the arrangement.
Compressed workweek schedules stretch daily hours over fewer days. Your DTR should show the extended hours on working days and blank rows on the scheduled rest day. The agency’s internal guideline will specify how many hours per day and which day is off. Make sure the arrangement is documented in writing before you begin recording a non-standard pattern, because unexplained ten-hour entries without an approved compressed schedule can look like errors on review.
Field Assignments and Official Travel
On days you are on official travel or assigned outside your regular office, you cannot clock in on the office biometric system. The 2025 ORAOHRA requires that a Certificate of Appearance or Itinerary of Travel be attached to your DTR to support the entries for those days.1Civil Service Commission. CSC Resolution No. 2500358 – Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions The certificate is typically signed by an official at the location you visited, confirming the date and time of your appearance. Without this attachment, an entry for that day has no supporting evidence, and the agency may treat the day as an unauthorized absence.
Field workers who rarely report to the main office — social workers, agricultural extension officers, inspectors — should coordinate with a supervisor on how attendance will be validated. Some agencies designate a field-office bundy clock; others rely on Certificates of Appearance. Either way, gather the documentation as the work happens, not weeks later from memory.
Submitting the Form and Getting It Verified
After the month ends, complete any remaining entries, sign the certification, and turn the form in to HR or the administrative office. Deadlines vary. Some agencies want the form by the fifth working day of the following month; others set tighter cutoffs. Check your agency’s internal memorandum, because a late submission can delay salary processing.
Your immediate supervisor or the head of office then reviews the entries against biometric logs, leave records, and any travel documentation. Once satisfied that the record is accurate, the supervisor signs the “verified correct” line. Under the 2025 ORAOHRA, the DTR must be accomplished daily and certified by the employee, then verified by the immediate supervisor; both steps are mandatory.1Civil Service Commission. CSC Resolution No. 2500358 – Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions The verified form then moves to payroll for salary computation.
If You Forget to Record Your Attendance
If you miss recording your attendance on a given day — whether you forgot to clock in or missed signing the logbook — submit a written explanation noted by your immediate supervisor within three working days of the missed recording. The agency head or authorized representative decides whether the explanation is satisfactory. If it is not, you may be considered absent for that day, which triggers the rules on unauthorized absences.1Civil Service Commission. CSC Resolution No. 2500358 – Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions
Why Accuracy Matters
The temptation to round entries in your favor, ask a colleague to punch your card, or write in hours you did not work carries real consequences. Under the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service, falsification of an official document is a grave offense punishable by dismissal from service on the first offense.4Civil Service Commission. 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service The 2025 RACCS retains dismissal as the penalty when a false DTR entry causes the government to pay for work not rendered, treating the falsification as absorbed into a charge of Serious Dishonesty.5Civil Service Commission. 2025 Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service
Even without falsification, patterns your DTR shows can trigger discipline on their own. Habitual tardiness draws suspension of six months and one day to one year on the first violation, and dismissal on the second, under CSC Memorandum Circular No. 04, Series of 1991.6Supreme Court E-Library. CSC Memorandum Circular No. 04 – Policy on Absenteeism and Tardiness Small habits show up quickly in a monthly record, so record what actually happened and address any recurring lateness through the proper channel rather than through the entries themselves.