‘Don’t read Mocha posts if...’

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang apparently does not have plans to stop bloggers working for the government to leave social media as it advised critics of Presidential Communications Operations Office assistant secretary Mocha Uson to just stop reading her online posts if they do not agree with her views. 

Uson, a supporter and defender of President Duterte, is using her blog to attack members of the opposition and mainstream media, which she accused of being biased against the government. 

PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar, Uson’s immediate supervisor, said her blog posts do not reflect the positions of the agency.

During a Senate hearing last week, some senators confronted Uson over her partisan blog posts and reminded her that she is already a government official. They also asked her to decide whether she would remain an assistant secretary or continue being a blogger. 

Senators are also pushing for stiffer penalties for cyber libel and spreading of fake news, especially if those found guilty are government officials.

Another blogger, Rey Joseph Nieto was also told to quit social media since the Department of Foreign Affairs has hired him as consultant. 

Their attacks against those criticizing the government were state-sanctioned to ensure the people would not be not influenced to become anti-administration, observers said.

“Almost everyone has Facebook account right? It just happened that Mocha has five million followers right? Others in the government do not even have 5,000. It just happened that Mocha is popular. Every time she posts comments in her Facebook account, they become viral because she has five million followers,” Andanar told radio station dzBB yesterday. 

            – With Paolo Romero