Palace: No need for Congress to pass law on Facebook use

Congress does not have to pass a law regulating the use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in government offices , Malacanang said on Thursday. Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the heads of government departments and agencies should just state their policies on social media if the productivity of the employees is affected by their use of social networking sites. "Hindi na siguro kelangan ng batas diyan. Kailangan na lang diyan gawan ng polisiya yung bawat departamento, bawat kagawaran (Perhaps a law is unnecessary. What is needed is for departments and agencies to craft their policy)," he said in a press briefing. Lacierda said he and Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning (PCDSP) head Ricky Carandang have the same stand on the issue. Both officials actively use Twitter in disseminating information. The Aquino administration is making government presence more visible on the web by creating or fine-tuning its websites or social media accounts. "Let's define the policy on that so the government people will be able to tweet without necessarily affecting productivity," said Lacierda. The Palace spokesman made the comment after Marikina Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo filed House Resolution 184 calling on government offices to regulate their use of the internet. Quimbo said the “unabated and unregulated use of the Internet by government officials and employees during office hours adversely affects their productivity and the quality of service they provide," adding that regulating internet use will also help the government trim down its electric bills. –VVP, GMANews.TV