I just took a nap and woke up to Mocha Uson having a column in our newspaper? WHAT THE FUCK? I just sent my dad this text. Not sorry at all. pic.twitter.com/sidtZclgaE
— Regina Belmonte (@vivatregina) November 6, 2016
The daughter of Philippine Star president Miguel Belmonte did not mince words when she expressed dismay over a report that entertainer-blogger Mocha Uson would have a weekly opinion column in the Manila broadsheet.
Regina Belmonte took to Twitter to vent her anger, sharing a text message she sent her father where she called Uson “garbage.”
“I just took a nap and woke up to Mocha Uson having a column in our newspaper? WHAT THE F***? I just sent my dad this text. Not sorry at all,” wrote Belmonte, 29, the eldest of three children of the Star president.
A screenshot of the text message read: “Are we seriously getting that reprehensible human being Mocha Uson as a columnist??? Why are we giving garbage a bigger platform to mislead the country?”
THE STAR WAS FOUNDED WITH ‘TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL’ UNDER ITS MASTHEAD. TO HAVE MOCHA USON PEDDLING LIES IN IT IS A DISGRACE TO MY LOLA’S MEMORY
— Regina Belmonte (@vivatregina) November 6, 2016
“THE STAR WAS FOUNDED WITH ‘TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL’ UNDER ITS MASTHEAD. TO HAVE MOCHA USON PEDDLING LIES IN IT IS A DISGRACE TO MY LOLA’S MEMORY,” Belmonte said in a separate tweet, referring to Philippine Star founder Betty Go-Belmonte.
Entertainment columnist Ricky Lo on Sunday wrote that the Philippine Star will have Uson as columnist in its Op-Ed section every Tuesday starting Nov. 8, with a column titled “Hotspot.” Lo’s piece was shared by Philippine Star’s social media accounts.
Noting that their family had sold majority of their stake in the paper, Belmonte said she could not help but express her disappointment over the news as she could not do anything about it.
“There’s nothing more I can do than to express my displeasure, which I’ve done here and in private. I can’t change anything on my own. Sorry. I’m just a girl in the world and can change nothing, but I’m allowed to hold on to my beliefs and my principles, and to feel what I feel,” Belmonte said.
“And what I feel is very sad. And nobody, not people on the Internet, not even my family, can take those feelings away from me. That’s all,” she added.
Belmonte said she was hoping that having an editor would teach Uson that “freedom and discipline go hand in hand.”
Uson, a staunch supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, confirmed the news on social media, saying she “accepted the opportunity” to write a regular column in the Philippine to Star to serve as “voice of the ordinary Filipino.”
In response to Belmonte, Uson noted that she was “not a journalist.”
“Ma’am I’m sorry if you don’t like me. Ako po ay HINDI JOURNALIST and I don’t deserve to be part of your family’s newspaper at isa sa natutunan ko po sa buhay ay eto, ‘all come from dust, and to dust all shall return,’” Uson said on Facebook.
“Hindi po ako kapit tuko sa kahit ano mang bagay, tao o kalalagayan sa buhay. At kung nais po ng pamunuan sa Philippine Star na ako po ay hindi magtuloy I WILL STILL BE GRATEFUL for being considered to write and express the cry of ordinary people. I will not have any bitterness towards you and the paper because your family owns it,” she added. YG/rga
I’m so angry and so disappointed I’m fucking crying. I have never been more disappointed in my life. My God.
— Regina Belmonte (@vivatregina) November 6, 2016
