Two Presidential Communications Operations Office executives on Thursday gave conflicting statements on the alleged “fake news” appearing on the blog posts attributed to Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson.
While PCOO social media strategist Trixie Cruz Angeles told the Senate committee on public information that her job is to “feed” information for the popular blog of Uson, the latter insisted all posts on her blog were her own.
Responding to the query of committee chairperson Senator Grace Poe on her job description in the PCOO, Angeles replied: “Actually what we do is we assist Asec. Mocha, among other things, in dealing with her social media account.”
“May I clarify, my position at Asec. Mocha’s office is not to handle her accounts, but simply to feed to her priority government information that she can put out in her blog,” Angeles later said.
But Uson disputed the testimony given by Angeles under oath, and insisted Angeles has nothing to with her social media account.
“She does not handle my social media accounts, this is what’s being spread now in Twitter,” stressed Uson, who has been accused of a propensity for circulating fake news.
PCOO Undersecretary Marie Banaag, for her part, also clarified their office “is not associated” with Uson’s posts about opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s supposed offshore accounts.
“If I may comment on Asec Mocha’s status. As reiterated, Asec Mocha’s blog is personal to her. When Senator Trillanes filed a case against Asec Mocha, it was not the PCOO. [Uson]will always be liable for whatever contents or posts [it] would have,” Banaag said.
Trillanes had confronted Uson on her posts about his supposed bank deposits in Singapore and other banks abroad. The opposition senator filed criminal and administrative complaints with the Office of the Ombudsman against Uson over what he claimed was “fake news” circulated through the blog.
In defending the post being questioned by Trillanes, Uson said she merely lifted it from the website Davao Breaking News, which has been cited as among the websites allegedly propagating fake news.
Meanwhile, Senator Gringo Honasan cited the need for Filipinos to be alerted with the rampancy of fake news.
“Let us individually and collectively assume responsibility and initiate remedial affirmative action, in the spirit of self-regulation and restraint to prevent trial by publicity, premature verdicts and destruction of hard-earned reputations, honor and future of families especially children while affirming due process and the rule of law,” Honasan said.
At the same hearing, Senator Nancy Binay said she considered blogging as an “underground economy.”
“We do not know if it is already an underground economy. I also do not know if it’s a billion [peso] industry already. Perhaps, Ms. Angeles can shed light to us,” said Binay.
Cruz replied that she was unsure about the extent of earnings from blogging.
“What I know is that in order to do my job, I have to talk to some of them, at least to understand what’s going on, for instance, when you spot trends, etcetera, if this trend is manufactured or not,” she said.