Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 1) – Election watchdog Kontra Daya is pushing for one-year ban on losing party-list nominees’ appointment to public office, so legislators could prove that they are not rubber stamps of the Duterte administration, while questioning former communications assistant secretary Mocha Uson’s return to government.
In a statement, Danilo Arao, Kontra Daya convenor, urged the Congress to expand the provision in the Article IX-B, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that “No candidate who has lost in any election shall, within one year after such election, be appointed to any office in the Government or any Government-owned or controlled corporations or in any of their subsidiaries” to cover party-list bets – especially the first and second nominees- who were not able to secure seats in Congress.
The Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160) has a similar provision: “Except for losing candidates in Barangay elections, no candidate who lost in any election shall, within one (1) year after such election, (may) be appointed to any office in the government or any government-owned or-controlled corporations or in any of their subsidiaries,” he noted.
Civil Service Commissioner Aileen Lizada said that under these law stipulations, Mocha Uson, a former dancer and singer turned blogger, may again be appointed in public office.
“This is one way for legislators to prove that they are not spineless puppets of Malacañan Palace,” he said.
The recommendation was made after Uson, who was criticized and sued for sharing disinformation, and former party-list nominee of AA-Kasosyo, a losing party-list candidate in the midterm elections held more than four months ago, was appointed as Deputy Executive Director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration on September 23.
The convenor said that by amending the said provision, those in power could be stopped from taking advantage of the “legal technicalities to hide the ugly head of patronage politics.”
Arao then questioned the qualifications of Uson, saying she “hardly made a difference in her work with the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO),” adding that she has a “penchant for spreading ‘fake news.’”
He also urged the public to air its disapproval of “recycling the likes of Uson.” He also reminded the Filipinos that Uson’s salary will come from taxpayers’ money.
“This all the more necessitates the need to expose the appointing authority’s temerity and Uson’s audacity,” he said.
Arao said this proposed amendment of the provision of existing and applicable law goes beyond legality, arguing that this is exercising prudence “in giving out appointments to government-favored individuals clearly rejected by the voters.”
