MANILA — Instead of apologizing, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson on Wednesday reminded host-actress Kris Aquino that the issue involving her viral social media post was not about the former Presidential sister but about making malice out of a kiss.
When asked by reporters for her comment prior to her departure at Incheon International Airport in Seoul on June 6, she said her reaction is posted on her Facebook page.
On her official Facebook page posted 5 p.m. Wednesday, Uson responded to Aquino’s live video posted on Tuesday (June 5) where she challenged the government official to meet her “anytime and anywhere.”
“Ito po ang aking response sa live video ni Miss Kris Aquino (This is my response to the live video of Miss Kris Aquino). This is not about Kris Aquino. Tungkol ito sa paglagay ng malisya sa isang halik (This is about making malice out a kiss),” Uson said in her reaction posted on Facebook.
“Itinumbas lang sa gawain ng ibang lider tulad ng tatay niya (I merely compared the action done President Duterte to that of another leader, like her father). Miss Aquino, this is not about you,” she added.
Minutes after posting her video, she posted a status insisting that she would not apologize for speaking “the truth.”
“With all due respect to everyone involved, I decline to apologize for the truth,” Uson said in her post.
The conflict between Uson and Aquino started after the latter called out the former for sharing a video which she posted on her Facebook page showing the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. being kissed by two women inside an airplane just moments before he was assassinated at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983.
Uson shared this footage side by side with footage of Duterte kissing a married Filipina worker in Korea, identified as Bea Kim in an exclusive video by the Philippine News Agency, during a meeting with the Filipino community in the host country.
Kim earlier said she found no malice in the kiss, and that the President’s “kilig” gesture was just a twist to make the audience happy.
As the youngest daughter of the late senator, Ms. Aquino said she was offended by the video shared by Uson, saying that she could no longer stay silent about the disrespect shown towards her family.
Aquino challenged Uson to pick on her instead of “besmirching” her family and said she was willing to re-enact a scene in the Star Cinema film Four Sisters and a Wedding where the character played by Angel Locsin pulled Uson’s character by the hair and dragged her out of a restaurant.
Uson’s response to Ms. Aquino’s live video came after Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher “Bong” Go said the Communications official she was willing to apologize for her post.
Go said Uson herself agreed with him and President Rodrigo R. Duterte that there was a need to say sorry.
“Mag so-sorry naman po siya (She will apologize),” Go said in a press briefing in Malacañang but asked reporters to interview Uson themselves.
“Nag-agree naman po si Asec. Mocha sa amin. Sa tingin ko mag so-sorry din siya kung may mediang makapag-interview sa kanya (Asec. Mocha agreed that there was a need to apologize. I think she will say sorry when media gets a chance to interview her),” he added. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)
