The Philippine Star

PCOO to remind Mocha about gender laws

- – Alexis Romero, Janvic Mateo

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.

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