LGUs declare war on Facebook use by employees

DIGOS CITY—Government officials decided to declare war on popular social networking sites in the Internet following reports that employees were spending more time on these than on their jobs.

Mayor Joseph Peñas said it has become alarming that employees in various service departments of the city government were spending more of their official hours on social networking sites and similar activities.

“Most of the employees are playing Farmville and Farmtown with their Facebook accounts during office hours and this affects the way they carry out their jobs,” he said.

Peñas said he discovered the practice, which goes on to the detriment of public service, from reports submitted to him.

He would not say, however, who passed on the reports to him.

Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas said he also issued a similar directive to capitol employees.

“They were being paid by people’s money and their official time should be spent on servicing the people’s needs,” Cagas said.

He said instead of logging onto their social networking accounts, employees should maximize their time to speed up government transactions.

In Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, a similar move was also started at the municipal local government operations office, according to Henrito Padillo, of that office. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao