CSC tells House: No law prohibiting gov't workers from gambling
At A Glance
- The Civil Service Commission (CSC) on Tuesday, Aug. 26, admitted to not having any legal anchor to prohibit government employees from engaging in any form of gambling.
The Civil Service Commission (CSC) on Tuesday, Aug. 26, admitted to not having any legal anchor to prohibit government employees from engaging in any form of gambling.
Marilyn Yap, CSC chairperson, suggested during the agency's budget hearing Tuesday, Aug. 26 that Congress pass related legislation on the matter.
She told the members of the Committee on Appropriations that CSC was "studying what could be legal cover for a comprehensive ban on all employees of the government, in all branches of the government, to engage in online gambling".
"I think I would recommend probably that study and provide inputs from our studies for the possibility of passing a legislation in regard to the conduct of government employees in any form gambling," she said in response to Trabaho Party-list Rep. Johanne Bautista's interpellation.
Yap disclosed that there was a past executive order (EO) that prohibited government employees from engaging in gambling.
And even that had a loophole, she said, as it only barred government employees from doing so during office hours.
"Obvious naman po office hours bakit ka naman po pupunta sa sugalan (Obviously, we're talking about office hours, why would you go gambling then)," she said.
She says there is also a "tricky" part that the Congress must address, as there are different gambling "classifications".
There's a type of gambling activity that is completely prohibited by law and another type that is allowed because it is done within an establishment that is licensed by the government.
In the meantime, Yap said every government still "has the power to issue guidelines and rules of conduct" for their employees that will enable them to maintain a degree of efficiency and good conduct of their respective offices, and not erode public trust.