Maynardo Valdez, a provincial information officer in the Philippines, may have just achieved a not-so-favorable first.
Valdez has been dismissed on grounds of dishonesty, gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct after posting Facebook photos of himself attending a high school reunion when he was supposed to be at work, the Philippine Information Agency reported. Valdez said he will appeal the decision.
Valdez closed the Nueva Ecija Information Center for four days without the proper authority and ignored text messages and calls from superiors, according to Philippine Information Agency Director-General Jose Fabia. He also claimed that Valdez neglected many of his daily duties, which included producing reports and surveying people’s sentiments in his province, the Huffington Post reported.
However, once officials utilized Facebook to get ahold of Valdez, they saw that he posted a number of photos from his hometown of Boracay with the caption “Mabuhay! NEHS ‘75 Pasyal sa Boracay July 18-21, 2011.” Those happened to be the same days that Valdez closed the office in Nueva Ecija.
The photographs were subsequently used as evidence against him.
“When [Valdez] closed the Nueva Ecija Information Center for 4 working days without authority, he deprived the people in Nueva Ecija of the multifarious PIA services,” the decision against Valdez stated.
Fabia said that the case against Valdez marks the first time a Philippine government official has been fired over something posted on Facebook, and might be a worldwide first as well.
You know what they say: What happens on Facebook can get you sacked.
Photo via Trishhhh