MANILA, Philippines -- Your job or your Friendster account?In this age of wireless technology, some employees have become so tech-savvy, they spend hours surfing and chatting way beyond their lunch break. But not at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Undersecretary Jose N. Ferrer Jr. has issued a memorandum reminding employees at the DENR main office to refrain from playing computer games or chatting online during office hours or face sanctions. “It sends a very wrong message to the public if they see a government employee chatting or playing games instead of being there to serve the public,” Ferrer told reporters Tuesday. Neither does it conform to “proper office decorum,” he added. Ferrer received reports that some employees were glued to their computer screens playing games, surfing Friendster, chatting, long after their hour-long lunch break was over. “They usually play games or chat during lunch break. After their lunch break, some were observed still engrossed in what they were doing. We don’t let that go unnoticed,” he said. Ferrer, however, said the situation had not become unmanageable, so he merely issued a “mildly worded” memorandum to some 1,000 employees at the main office last Friday. Proper work ethic In the memorandum, the undersecretary for management and technical services said the department wished to remind its employees anew about the proper work ethic. “There’s nothing illegal [about] chatting during the lunch break,” he said. “We don’t have a problem with the Internet as long as it’s used productively.” If they had a lot of free time, employees should request “additional assignments” from supervisors, the official said. With the memorandum, Ferrer said he expected heads of division and offices in the DENR main building to check on their staff during office hours and to make sure they toed the line. “Both the officers and staff should be responsible enough to check if that’s still happening, and if it continues to happen after this memo,” he said. If an employee is caught committing a “misdemeanor,” he gets a written warning, then a reprimand, and then a suspension order, as spelled out in Civil Service Commission rules, according to the official. Better at solitaire “For now, we don’t want to issue a written warning yet if we could correct [the situation] by relaying our observation to the division head that their staff is getting better at Solitaire,” Ferrer said in jest. The official did not rule out the option of blocking the employees’ access to the Internet during office hours. “We will come to that if employees flagrantly violate this memorandum. That’s one of the remedial measures we can take,” he said. | 
