Award for Mocha elates Malacañang

SCREENGRAB from The Varsitarian Twitter account

It was the award that kicked up a firestorm.

But Malacañang couldn’t care less, saying on Monday that it was happy for Presidential Communications Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson after she received the Gawad Thomasian Alumni Award for Government Service from the University of Santo Tomas Alumni Association Inc. (USTAAI).

No sooner had the award been handed on Sunday night to Uson, a UST graduate who became a sexy dancer and blogger whom President Duterte rewarded with a post at the PCOO for her avid support, than her fellow graduates stormed social media, denouncing the choice as “disgusting” and a “shame,” expressing regret about their association with UST and demanding withdrawal of the award.

Fake nationalism

The vehement disapproval wasn’t so much over Uson’s sexy dancing than for her use of her blog to defend Mr. Duterte and attack his critics.

Condemning the USTAAI choice, the UST Central Student Council said Uson was “known to [use] her following to initiate blatant personal attacks against her critics and the government’s, including students and members of the press, all under the guise of fake nationalism and freedom of speech.”

Uson, the student council said, “does not in any way embody the ideals of a real Thomasian.”

Palace downplays uproar

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque played down the uproar on Monday, saying the award was an honor for Uson.

“Well, we’re happy for [Assistant Secretary] Uson and I suppose that validates that her appointment was for good reason,” Roque said.

“To be given this recognition must be really a source of honor for Uson,” he added.

Roque declined to comment on the outrage on social media.

“Mocha Uson can respond to them. The Palace does not have to,” he said.

‘Bitter lemons’

Uson did not seem to feel the heat.

She thanked the USTAAI for the award. “And like what they said, we will continue to strive to serve the Filipino people,” she said.

“I admire your stance of not aligning yourself to the political affiliation of your alumnus,” she added.

Uson said she was offering the award to her mother and to ordinary Filipinos.

To her bashers on social media, she said their rage showed there was freedom of expression in the Philippines. “A reminder: bitter lemons are eaten and not made a habit,” she said.

Denunciation of the USTAAI’s choice continued on Monday.

Revoke the award

The UST Student Council for the Arts and Letters urged the USTAAI to revoke the award. “We condemn any form of false information given by individuals such as herself,” it said.

The UST Journalism Society said Uson did not represent the university’s core values.

“Uson, who has been using her blog to peddle inaccurate information, malign critics of the Duterte administration, and discredit media practitioners who are performing their role as independent monitors of power, does not in any way represent the Thomasian core values of compassion, competence and commitment,” the group said in a statement. —WITH REPORTS FROM TISHA RAMIREZ, AIE BALAGTAS SEE AND FAYE ORELLANA