8 Reasons Why the Government Shouldn't Be On Social Media

Over the weekend, the Quezon City Public Information Office had a Twitter joust with a netizen due to the issue of who should be in charge of installing lights along Commonwealth Avenue which we all know is dark and accident prone during night time.

Apparently, whoever was handling the government account replied with this tweet:

Kung ginamit mo lang bungo mo sa pag-research, ano. DPWH may sakop ng Commonwealth at hindi LGU.

— Quezon City PIO (@QCPublicAffairs) September 4, 2017

Needless to say, some netizens thought the reply was a bit out of line. This isn’t the first time though that social media managers committed mistakes while using government accounts. Here are other instances when these slip ups were pretty obvious.

“fafda” 
Just last month, the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) was made fun of after it tweeted what netizens called the Philippines’ version of US President Donald Trump’s “covfefe” tweet. Honestly, we still have no idea what “fafda” means.

And we have our covfefe pic.twitter.com/hXMscpGVZK

— Miguel Lizada (@mlizada) August 18, 2017

MMDA welcomes back Mocha Uson 
Last March, PCOO Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson got into trouble on Twitter which led to her account getting suspended. When the suspension was lifted, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) was one of the first who welcomed her back. While there is nothing wrong in doing this at face value, netizens questioned why the MMDA account had to be used for what seemed to be a political statement from what should be a neutral government agency.

Welcome back to twitter @mochauson. Tuloy ang laban sa tunay na pagbabago.

— Official MMDA (@MMDA) March 9, 2017

Here’s a witty reply from a netizen:

There is nothing wrong with this tweet. It is the job naman talaga of the MMDA to inform us about disasters on the road. https://t.co/92SZxwr1TF

— Miguel Lizada (@mlizada) March 9, 2017

DPWH disses Pacquiao
Looks like someone from the Public Works Department wasn’t quite agreeing to what Senator Manny Pacquiao had to say last year:

Hello @DPWHph @chrlsdmrs pic.twitter.com/8bkex0PI4m

— Moki (@moki_doki) August 23, 2016

PAGASA’s non-weather gibberish 
It was February last year when State weather agency PAGASA posted some gibberish on Twitter. The tweet basically reads as “sdfdsafsdf... id=.” It has since been deleted but the reactions of those who saw it can still be viewed online.

#ulatPanahon ni #Pagasa sdfdsafsdf...
id=

— Ka Bino Guerrero (@ka_bino) February 4, 2016

MMDA’s “heavy traffic” reply
It was raining hard that day so a netizen decided to tweet the MMDA to ask what was causing the floods along EDSA. Here’s the thread:

@MMDA What is causing the 36-inch flood along EDSA NB Santolan service road? Please update. It is causing horrible traffic.

— Frances Bernardino (@FVBernardino) October 10, 2013

MMDA’s conyo “bubog” tweet
Back in 2012, the MMDA erroneously tweeted about an LRT bombing incident at Recto. This caused panic and concern especially to the families of those who regularly ride the busy train system. It’s a good thing they quickly owned up to their mistake and apologized. This conyo tweet though:

We have deleted our previous tweets about bombing at LRT Recto. Suspicious packages were left but EOD inspection showed contents were bubog.

— Official MMDA (@MMDA) October 6, 2012

Logan-Gate
Back on June 2, the Palace's Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) apologized for accidentally streaming an (illegal) copy of Hugh Jackman's Logan during a test broadcast on the Presidential Communications' Facebook page. According to Rappler, the movie aired for a good 21 minutes before it was taken down.

RTVM ended their apology with: "We remain committed to our mission in serving the Filipino people through news dissemination with the widest communication reach."

This story originally appeared on FHM.com.ph.