Philippine Official Sacked Over Facebook Photos

A Philippine local official has been sacked after bunking off work for a school reunion on a tropical island and posting photos of the trip on Facebook, the government said Thursday.

Provincial information officer Maynardo Valdez shut his office for four days in July last year to join former classmates on the holiday island of Boracay, said his employers, the Philippine Information Agency.

Official efforts at the time to locate Valdez proved futile, but his bosses soon caught on after seeing photos of the jaunt online.

The "secret escapade to Boracay was exposed when his pictures were seen in the social networking site", read the dismissal order issued last month. "These pictures were later printed out as part of the evidence in this case."

The government agency, which only made the dismissal public this week, said Valdez was sacked for "neglect of duty, gross misconduct and dishonesty".

Valdez could not be reached on Thursday for comment.

The Philippines, a nation of 95 million people, is among the world's leading countries in terms of Facebook use.