On April 17, Ronnie Carrasco III published an article on Bandera speculating that multihyphenate Mocha Uson was planning to run for a Senate seat in 2019. We quote: "Pero confirmed daw, Mocha is running for senator in the next elections."

Since then, the resigned former Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has hemmed and hawed, first denying that she was running, and then, right after her resignation, said she was "open" to running for a post, telling the Inquirer, "Senator, Congress, hindi ko po alam, pero open po tayo."

Is it a possibility? The latest Pulse Asia survey on next year's senatorial candidates showed that, while 63 percent of those surveyed were aware of Mocha Uson, only 1.3 percent said they planned to vote for her. (In June, her numbers were 54 percent aware, 1.3 percent voting for.)

Frankly—and with all due respect to our former feature subject and shoot model—there are a few reasons why we think that we as a country are better off with Citizen Uson rather than a Senator or Congresswoman Uson.

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1| Senators should be able to disagree with the president.

Remember your elementary-school Civics classes? Our government is split into three separate branches: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial branches. It is important to have these three branches separate and sovereign from one another, in order to preserve the checks and balances that protect democracy. A senatorial candidate who is solely known for being at the frontlines of the President’s, ehm, booster club does not make for discerning and conscientious dissent.

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2| Senators should have a working knowledge of the Constitution.

You know, the Philippine Constitution of 1987, which only has 18 Articles. (The Tax Code, however, has an Article 263.)

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3| Mocha Uson is part of, shall we say, non-traditional media.

Whether we like it or not—whether we agree with her or not—perhaps that is where her sphere of influence is, and that is where she should stay and learn more about serving the people, instead of mucking around in an entirely new arena she knows nothing about.

Uson has already demonstrated a propensity for flouting the code of ethics for public officials, not to mention a stunning lack of knowledge of the most important issues that our lawmakers have to deal with.

But it is a free country, and we the people will have to decide whether or not we vote in a Senator Uson (shudder) in this lifetime. And if that happens, we’d like to at least give her a head start with a few ready-made campaign posters and slogans.



IMAGE Joseph Pascual

ILLUSTRATOR Jasrelle Serrano

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IMAGE Joseph Pascual

ILLUSTRATOR Jasrelle Serrano



IMAGE Joseph Pascual

ILLUSTRATOR Jasrelle Serrano

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW



IMAGE Joseph Pascual

ILLUSTRATOR Jasrelle Serrano



IMAGE Joseph Pascual

ILLUSTRATOR Jasrelle Serrano

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People of the Philippines: Feel free to add your own suggestions.