Airport staff pictured playing video games under investigation—POEA
Screengrab from Filipino’s Patriotism Facebook
MANILA, Philippines—Two female government employees shown in a photo playing video games at their posts at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport are now under investigation by their employers.
Airport authorities identified the women as Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) employees working at the counter at the north wing of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2, where departing overseas Filipino workers have their employment certificates stamped.
POEA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac confirmed the information in a phone interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday evening, but declined to name the photographed women since “we are still conducting an investigation” on the matter.
But “one is an organic personnel, the other a contractual employee,” Cacdac detailed. The organic staff will be served a notice on Tuesday morning, instructing her to explain her behaviour at work. Meanwhile, the agency of the contractual employee has also been notified about the matter, Cacdac said.
The photo that started circulating from the Filipino Patriotism Facebook page was posted on Sunday, and had already amassed more than 4,000 shares and more than 1,000 comments as of Monday.
The Facebook page credited blog Fashion Pulis (www.fashionpulis.com) for the photo. The blog, in an Oct. 20 post titled “NAIA employees playing at work,” simply credited the photo as “courtesy of a Fashion Pulis reader.”
“We are still looking into when it happened. There was nobody in line at the time so that might guide us. It was probably not during peak hours,” Cacdac said.
Asked if the women were perhaps on break time, since nobody was in line when the photograph was shot, Cacdac said: “That’s actually immaterial. Government property is for government use.”
“We assure the public that there will be penalties if they are found liable,” Cacdac said.
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