Group hits CSC memo barring gov’t workers from political discourse

A POLITICAL GROUP on Thursday criticized a Civil Service Commission (CSC) order prohibiting government workers from participating in online political discourse, calling it a violation of free expression.

Bayan Muna and the Confederation for Unity Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), a union of government employees, will campaign for the order’s revocation, said Ferdinand R. Gaite, the union’s adviser and Bayan Muna’s party-list candidate for the midterm elections.

“Preventing government employees from expressing their views on political issues in social media, especially on policies and politicians affecting their rights and welfare as government workers, is curtailing their rights to freedom of expression as workers and as citizens,” he said in a statement.

The CSC in late March barred government workers from engaging in “partisan political activities,” including liking or following political candidates’ online content.

“This recent issuance of the CSC… about political matters is too much! It tramples upon the very rights that civil servants are supposed to uphold and defend,” said Mr. Gaite. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio