Jail officers face a very challenging working environment where their resilience always needs to be boosted and maintained. A quantitative causal research method and in generating the best fit model, the structural equation model (SEM) was used in this research. Thus, this study aimed to determine the best-fit structural model for the resilience of jail officers in Region XI, the Philippines, using social support, emotional intelligence, and political skills as the exogenous variables. 428 jail officers responded to the invitation to participate in the study. The findings revealed a significant relationship between independent and dependent variables. It is also discovered that social support and emotional intelligence influenced the resilience of jail officers by 81 percent. The best-fit model for the resilience of jail officers is grounded on social competence, personal competency, and structure style by social support highlighted by support from significant other/s and support from friends; social support is influenced by emotional intelligence grounded by self-awareness and empathy; and emotional inteligence predicted by political skills substantiated by social astuteness and apparent sincerity.

Keywords : Public administration, social support, emotional intelligence, political skills, resilience, structural equation modeling, jail officers, Philippines.