IT’S already a “no-brainer” that Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson will land a spot in the already-tight Senate race for 2019 should she decide to run, her boss at the Presidential Communications Operations Office said Saturday.
“If we talk about winnability, or the possibility of winning, Mocha is a no-brainer, she can really draw the crowd in a Senate campaign,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told state-radio Radyo Pilipinas.
The President, in Davao City where he is spending the weekend, told reporters in an interview, “Let the people decide [if they want her].”
Citing Uson’s influence with over 5 million followers on Facebook, Andanar was confident the former sexy dancer could win a Senate post, even sans political experience.
“Mocha is a very popular person [and] part of her being an Assistant Secretary is she has many followers. It’s not a secret to our fellow countrymen that she really has many followers on social media,” Andanar said.
“Her million [followers], if they will vote, as well as her relatives, there’s a big chance [of her winning as senator]. If there is a possibility of winning, it’s no-brainer for Mocha,” he said.
“She can please the crowd in a Senate campaign, miting de avance, among others.”
Uson, who earlier said she was “surprised” by her inclusion in the ruling party’s senatorial slate, had expressed she would not be running unless President Rodrigo Duterte would tell her so.
Uson, in her blog said (caps hers) “I WILL ONLY RUN IF PRRD WILL TELL ME TO RUN. Bakit??? Kasi nga DDS ako. Ano ibig sabihin nito? My loyalty is only to him. WALA NG IBA.”
On Friday, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the party’s secretary-general of the once moribund Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan announced in a party oathtaking in Cebu that Uson and Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque would be running for the Senate under the ruling party’s banner come 2019.
PDP-Laban president and Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, however, said there was “no party decision yet.”
“You can consider them as [the] Speaker’s nominees. [The] party will decide in due time,” Pimentel said.