STUDENT leaders belonging to the Akbayan Youth group on Monday filed an administrative complaint of gross misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the service against Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly spreading fake news on her Facebook page.
In a 10-page complaint, Shamah Bulangis of Youth Resist, along with Basilio Claudio of Akbayan Youth-University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, accused Uson of being “one of the biggest purveyors of disinformation in this government.”
“We are drawing the line versus Mocha and all other government officials who lie to the public,” Bulangis said.
“The Filipino people are not that stupid to believe her, and she must be removed from her post.”
Malacañang again defended Uson.
Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the former dancer and singer was not a purveyor of fake news as claimed by Akbayan Youth and that she could defend herself.
“I’m sure Asec. Mocha will be able to defend herself. There are processes to follow to observe, and she will be given a fair chance to be able to explain her side,” Guevarra said.
Placard-bearing Akbayan members flocked to the Ombudsman’s central office in Quezon City to filed their complaint and ask for Uson’s ouster.
Claudio said the taxes collected from the Filipino people were just going to waste on public officials such as Uson whose only job was to lie to the people.
He said Uson did not have the right to stay in government for fooling the public through her Facebook page blogs.
Akbayan slammed Uson for allegedly posting false allegations against St. Scholastica’s College and accusing the school of forcing its students to take part in a protest rally against the Duterte administration in November 2016.
“This unreasonable and unfair act of Uson”•of posting false accusations against the school without verifying the accuracy of the information”•led to cyberbullying attacks directed against students of St. Scholastica’s College,” Akbayan Youth said in its complaint read.
“Following this, there is no doubt that Uson is a threat to the security of people that voice their criticism against the government.”
Bulangis said Uson displayed her ignorance of the 1987 Constitution and the country’s geography, citing Uson’s gross mistake when in her January 2018 video blog she said Mayon Volcano was in Naga City and not in Albay.
“Clearly, Uson is grossly incompetent to convey the right information to guide the Filipino public,” Akbayan Youth said.
The youth group also criticized Uson for challenging public officials to visit the wake of slain Sr. Insp. Mark Garcia in August 2017 even if the police officer had died in 2016.
The group said among the other “misinformation” from Uson were her photograph of Honduran military forces making it appear it was a picture of Filipino soldiers in Marawi City, her allegations on Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s offshore bank accounts and her act of repeatedly calling Vice President Leni Robredo “bobo” or stupid on her live radio program.