MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the resignation of Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson, Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go said Wednesday.
Go told reporters that Uson submitted her resignation letter on Tuesday.
He said Malacañang respects Uson’s decision to resign and expressed gratitude for her service.
“Nirerespeto po naman ang kanyang pagre-resign at nagpapasalamat rin kami kay Asec. Mocha sa kanyang naging serbisyo po sa gobyernong Duterte (We respect her decision to resign and we are grateful to Asec. Mocha for her service under the Duterte administration),” Go said. “Naging good ally po siya (She was a good ally).”
Uson announced her resignation during a Senate hearing, stressing that Congress was purposely delaying deliberations on the budget of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) because of her.
She described her decision to leave her post as a “sacrifice” to allow the passage of the PCOO budget.
Last week, Uson’s absence caused the House of Representatives to defer plenary deliberations on the agency’s budget.
Uson, however, denied that her resignation was done out of fear of her critics and vowed to fight them fairly.
Calls for Uson’s resignation mounted anew after she posted a video on her personal blog showing Drew Olivar, her co-host in Good News Game Show, singing and dancing while making vulgar gestures to raise awareness on federalism.
She also released another video mocking sign language but has apologized for it.
Reports showed that Uson is being considered to run for senator. She was appointed as PCOO assistant secretary in May 2017.
She said she is open to running for Senator or Congresswoman in the 2019 mid-term elections.
In September 2017, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed administrative and criminal complaints against Uson for supposedly spreading “fake news” that he owned a bank account in Singapore.
The criminal charges are three counts of violation of Cybercrime Prevention Act for libel, and a count each of violation of the Anti-Graft and Practices Act, violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and falsification and use of false documents. ( Azer Parrocha/PNA)
