PCOO to remind Mocha about gender laws
Presidential communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson will be reminded formally about gender laws following the backlash over the controversial federalism video that offended even the allies of President Duterte.
Presidential communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy said her boss, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, had asked her to give Uson a written reminder, which she clarified is not a memo.
“The official stand of the secretary is to just remind Asec. Mocha. I think the secretary just spoke to her and that’s about it. Well, she is a presidential appointee and we cannot actually
fire her. It’s the presidential prerogative,” Badoy said on “The Chiefs” aired on Cignal TV’s One News channel yesterday.
“She (Uson) has to align with the laws regarding gender and development, all the laws and the rules,” she added.
Uson ignited a firestorm over an online game show that critics said maligned federalism.
The controversial PCOO official cheered as her co-host, pro-Duterte blogger Drew Olivar, touched his crotch and chest, shouting “I-pepe, I-dede, Ipederalismo!”
“Pepe” is Filipino childspeak for the female genitals while “dede” is a term for breast.
Senators and internet users have accused Uson and Olivar of bastardizing federalism and insulting the intellect of Filipinos. Because of the controversy, some lawmakers called for the removal of the PCOO budget while critics demanded that she apologize for the episode.
Uson refused to apologize and clarified that the online show is not part of the information campaign for federalism. She also accused some senators of being disrespectful and accused them of covering up the alleged cheating during the 2016 elections.
Badoy, who handles the news media team, revealed that some people in PCOO were shocked by the “pepedede-pederalismo” video. “As expected some of us are really shocked by it and we wish that she would have been a bit more circumspect, but as the President said, she does have the right to free expression,” Badoy said.
Badoy said the video may have breached ethical standards under Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for public officials and employees. But she is convinced that Uson makes people face the hypocrisies in society.
“I do see that Mocha is able to communicate really well with the people that follow her. And I find her really interesting because she does trigger a lot of people, there’s a reaction to her, right?” Badoy said.
“And I think it’s very good for us as a country because I think Asec. Mocha reminds us of a lot of hypocrisy in our society and she makes us face them, the things inside herself because we’re such a hypocritical society. This is what I find fascinating about Asec. Mocha.”
Asked how the controversy is affecting the morale of PCOO personnel, Badoy said: “It’s OK… honestly, there’s just so much to do and this was just one of those things that happens and there are bigger things that we need to get done.”
Badoy also defended Andanar, who was accused of not being aware of what’s happening in his agency.