Emano bans cellphones at work

OPPOSITION Councilor Edgar Cabanlas criticized the memorandum of Mayor Vicente Emano prohibiting all Cagayan de Oro City Hall employees from using their mobile phones during office hours.

“It is such a high sense of stupidity,” Cabanlas said, as he tackled the issue during the council session on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, Emano strictly implemented the said memo for City Hall employees to effectively accommodate the transactions of the people.

“I think the mayor is being childish of his memorandum. There’s a lot of means to kill the time, it’s a matter of regulation ug dili ang pag-palong sa cellphone kay simbako ug dunay emergency sa pamilya aning mga empliyado,” Cabanlas said.

Councilor Roger Abaday also opposed the memorandum, describing it as curtailment of the freedom of the employees.

Abaday suggested that the mayor should put up closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera for him to detect and monitor employees who are texting on office hours, instead of providing services to the taxpayers.

But Councilor President Elipe, who supports the memorandum, hit back, saying: “It is a better solution to stop the bad working habits of some city hall employees.”

“May I suggest that each department will have an official mobile telephone lines that the families of the employees can contact in the event of emergencies at home,” he added.

Councilor Alvin Calingin urged the councilors to support the memorandum by turning their mobile telephones during the session.

Meanwhile, one of the City Hall employees who expressed apprehension said he is against the mayor’s memorandum, citing possible emergency call from his wife, or children who are at school.

“Pero dili man gihapon mi makatingog ana kay lisod na,” he added. (Annabelle L. Ricalde)