Lawmaker seeks to regulate ‘Facebooking’ in govt offices

A neophyte lawmaker on Wednesday called on government offices to impose regulations on the use of their Internet facilities, especially when they are just being used by employees to access Facebook and other social networking sites. Marikina Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo, in filing House Resolution 184, 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." He said regulating the use of Internet will also help the government trim down its expenditures on electricity. According to him, if the 900,000 state workers use government computers for at least two hours of unauthorized online social networking activities every day, the government stands to lose an estimated P103,158,000 every month for electricity expenses alone. Quimbo noted that Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG, where he previously served as president and chief executive officer, registered a significant increase in profit from P2.7 billion in 2001 to P9.8 billion in 2009 when it regulated the use of Internet. Quimbo said that although the State recognizes the importance of the information and communications technology (ICT), it cannot be denied that the misuse and abuse of ICT facilities and resources pose threats which can frustrate efforts to make government operations more effective and efficient. “There is no question that there is a need to regulate the use of government ICT facilities to strike a balance between the benefits and the threat it poses," he said. Covered by the resolution are all government departments, bureaus, offices, agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations. Quimbo also asked government offices to submit copies of their respective regulations to the House of Representatives as part of the documents necessary for the deliberation of their respective proposed budgets for 2011. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV