Andanar: Mocha has to answer for her social media posts

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Assistant Secretary Margaux "Mocha" Uson has to answer for her social media posts but did not indicate whether she has any official accountability for them.

A recent series of posts have led to social media users call for her removal from the Presidential Communications Operations Office, a unit that Andanar leads and that is tasked with handling messaging and content from the Palace. 

Uson, a vocal Duterte supporter, tweeted a screengrab of an Inquirer story about a government agent who was killed in an anti-drug operation with the caption, “Waiting...”. The post, published in the wake of public outrage over the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos during a Caloocan City police operation, implied that opposition figures would not visit the slain officer because they do not care about law enforcers being killed.

READ: 'Fire Mocha' trends after PCOO asec's latest gaffe

The tweet was deleted after netizens pointed out that the story she posted was from August 2016. 

Andanar said Uson is accountable for whatever she posts on her social media accounts.

“That is really the price that she has to pay. Unang-unang may disclaimer siya na kung anuman ang gusto niyang sabihin, sa kanya lang ‘yun. Walang kinalaman ang PCOO dito (First of all, she has a disclaimer that whatever she says is her own opinion and PCOO has nothing to do with it),” Andanar said on CNN's "The Source" on Wednesday.

Uson heads the PCOO's Social Media Office and has been designated to screen bloggers and social media practitioners applying for accreditation to cover the president. 

“We agreed to that so kung meron siyang napo-post [na] nagiging controversial, (if she posts something controversial) then she will have to answer [to] that,” he added.

Uson responded to the #FireMocha hashtag by saying it was meant to take attention away from corruption allegations against Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista. She later also posted that her critics were just "paid trolls" and that she is only answerable to the president.

Prior to the #FireMocha hashtag becoming a trending topic, Uson also criticized Sen. Bam Aquino for supposedly grabbing credit for the passage of a law providing free tertiary education. She said that it was Duterte who allocated the budget for it.

She deleted the tweet after she was called out on how Congress prepares the national budget and that the money would come from taxes, not the president's pocket.

READ: No funds for free tuition, Duterte admits

'She protects the president'

“Whether we like it or not, or the opposition likes it or not, we have to accept the fact that that’s her unique selling proposition—her huge following online,” he added.

Uson has around 5.2 million likes on Facebook and 148,000 followers on Twitter. 

The assistant secretary enjoys the confidence and trust of the president, Andanar pointed out, saying, “The fact that she’s always, most of the time, with him in his activities, malaki ang tiwala ng president sa kanya (the president trusts her a lot).”

She attended the president’s closed-door meeting with Kian delos Santos' parents and accompanied Duterte on his visit to the war-torn Marawi.

The former broadcaster, however, said he advised Uson to hire an editorial team following the blunder she committed when she posted a wrong photo to depict Filipino troops praying before combat with Maute terrorists in Marawi City. Uson used a photo of police from Honduras.

She defended the post, saying it was merely "symbolism" and that she never claimed the troops in the photo were Filipino. 

READ: Fire incompetent PNA editors, Andanar told

The president’s communications team itself has been involved in gaffes in the past.

Earlier in August, the Philippine News Agency was under fire for using the logo of a company selling canned pineapple in a story about the Department of Labor and Employment. 

PNA was also slammed for posting China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency’s opinion piece against the arbitration ruling on the West Philippine Sea, which in effect favored the side of Beijing and a story titled “95 nations in 3rd UPR convinced no EJKs in Phl” using quotes that a Local Government undersecretary denied making. The UN also clarified that it did not say what PNA reported it did.

PNA also used a Vietnam War photo in a story about the ongoing armed conflict in Marawi City. — Gaea Katreena Cabico