By Ellson Quismorio
Former Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson should avoid running for a party-list seat next year if she wants to be a woman of her word.
Former Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson (Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN)
Uson's nemesis, ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro, said this as she reminded Uson about how she has assailed party-list representation in the House of Representatives in the past.
"Kung magpa-party-list siya, parang kinain na niya or nilamon niya yung kanyang mga pinagsasasabi against the party-list kasi nga sinabi niya noon na walang kwenta ang party-list, dapat buwagin na yan," said Castro, who is part of the opposition in the Lower Chamber.
(If she will run for Party-List, then she will have eaten all that she has said about the party-list system because she said back then that party-lists are worthless and should be abolished.)
Uson had earlier confirmed that she would run for either the position of congressman or senator in the upcoming 2019 midterm elections. She declared her poll aspirations shortly after her firing as Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) assistant secretary.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) began accepting certificates of candidacy (COCs) on Thursday.
As opposed to district representation in the House, party-list representation grants seats to the nominees based on the percentage of votes the party-list group received in the elections.
Ideally, these groups are meant to take up the cudgels for under-represented community sectors in the Lower Chamber. These include labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural, women, youth, and other such sectors.
Party-list groups have also been criticized for allegedly not living up to this intended purpose, as well as being the usual recourse of aspiring legislators who are non-winnable in their districts.
Still, Castro insinuated that Uson would look foolish if she takes the party-list route in the legislature. "Technically, nilamon niya mga sinasabi niya. (Technically she devoured everything she said)."
Nonetheless, Castro clarified that she does not care about whatever the popular pro-administration blogger decides to do.
For her part, Gabriela Party-List Rep. Emmi de Jesus, Castro's fellow Makabayan stalwart, just gave a simple message to election newbie Uson.
"Good luck na lang sa kanya. (Good luck to her)," De Jesus said.