Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said that PCOO Asec. Mocha Uson now has editors managing her posts on Mocha Uson Blog amid accusations that she is using it to spread inaccurate information.
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“Mocha is an assistant secretary of the PCOO. Hindi mo na mahihiwalay ang personalidad ni Mocha as a private citizen and high ranking official. It’s one and the same,” he said.
However, Andanar did not specifically address how Uson will be held accountable for her posts and chose to remind everyone instead to be responsible enough “not to spread wrong information.”
“It’s also our responsibility as citizens of this country to only share the information na talagang makakatulong sa lipunan,” he added.
Would Uson take down her blog with over 5 million followers? Andanar said, “I don’t think so.”
He added, “We should strike a balance because there’s freedom of expression.”
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Towards the end of May, netizens took issue when Uson shared a photo of the Honduras police kneeling in prayer while asking for prayers for the Philippine government forces fighting against the Maute Group in Marawi City. She later defended her post, saying that it was #symbolism, which netizens made fun of on social media.
In a radio interview on June 24, Andanar said he confronted Uson over the erroneous “Honduras police” photo.
“So I told her about that na mahirap na nga i-separate na since it’s your blog but at the same time you are the Assistant Secretary. Okay naman si Mocha so sa tingin ko… she just have to be more circumspect,” he said.
Andanar also said that he advised Uson to hire page managers for her blog.
“I talked to Mocha about it and told her that of course it’s her blog, it’s her own Facebook page. Sabi ko, ‘Iyon lang whether it’s—I know that its hindi naman intentional iyong nag-upload pero she has to start, she has to hire really people who can manage…her Facebook page/blog, to help out because she’s already now an [Assistant] Secretary pero it was just an advice because that’s really on blog,” he added.
Here is the copy of the transcript of Andanar’s June 24 radio interview on DZMM’s Teka Muna.
Andanar said he supports the deliberations on Senate Bill 1492, proposed to be the Anti-Fake News Act, which seeks to penalize anyone who maliciously publishes, offers, distributes, circulates, and spreads fake news in broadcast, print or online media.
He added that legitimate and fake news must be defined clearly.
“We should define again what news is, lahat ba ng sasabihin ng isang ordinaryong tao, for example, na may 50k followers, news na ba ‘yun? Or kailangang maging member ba ng isang organization para ang isang istorya maging news,” Andanar said.
Netizens reacted to the news about Uson having editors handling her popular blog.
Here are some that we spotted on the comments section of GMA News Online’s post.
One suggested that the editor should be Asec instead.
Another one asked if the editors are paid for by Filipino taxpayers.
Here are more reactions from the netizens:
Sources: ( gmanetwork.com , news.abs-cbn.com , twitter.com )
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