Only Duterte can sack Mocha Uson, says Martin Andanar

APPOINTING POWER Assistant Presidential Communications Secretary Mocha Uson stands beside President Duterte at a Christmas party last year for pro-Duterte bloggers in Malacañang. – MALACAÑANG PHOTO

Only President Rodrigo Duterte can remove or compel Mocha Uson to resign as assistant communications secretary.

Uson’s direct supervisor, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, said Uson had been appointed by the President and the power to remove her rested on him alone.

“Only one person can make Uson quit and that is the President because he is the appointing authority,” Andanar said.

Andanar made the remarks after Harold Clavite, Philippine Information Agency director general, repeated a call for the resignation of Uson, who had become famous for her online sex video tutorials.

Clavite said many employees and other officials in the Presidential Communications Operations Office and its line agencies shared his sentiment.

“The country has seen what a Mocha Uson could do to governance,” Clavite said on the sidelines of a conference in Iligan City for Task Force Bangon Marawi on Friday.

‘Pepe-dede-ralismo’

These blunders, said Clavite, “have undermined and tarnished the brand and image of the President and this government.”

Clavite was referring to the controversial “Pepe-dede-ralismo” video of Uson and her pal, blogger Andrew Olivar, supposedly promoting federalism and uploaded by Uson on her Facebook page in August.

A month later, the pair drew flak again when Uson’s Facebook page featured a video of Olivar mocking the sign language and Uson commenting in the background.