OFW group finds Mocha Uson’s OWWA appointment ‘unacceptable’


BY THE MANILA TIMES
OCTOBER 04, 2019
A group of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong found the appointment of former Communications assistant secretary Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson to the Overseas Worker Welfare Administration (OWWA) “unacceptable”.
In a statement on Friday, the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-Migrante-HK), through its chairwoman Dolores Pelaez, said: “We denounce the appointment of Mocha Uson as OWWA Deputy Executive Director.”
“This is unacceptable to overseas Filipino workers whose mandatory contributions require provision of welfare protection,” Pelaez said.
Pelaez said that Uson was unqualified and noted that since the establishment of OWWA, “OFWs have been used as piggy bank for government officials who are appointed to head this office”.
She claimed that “billions of OWWA funds have been misused, re-channeled, and unaudited up to the present.”
The OFW group cited some of the controversies that surrounded Uson when she was assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO): Questionable expenses during the 2017 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, a spike in travel expenses, and the “pepederalismo” viral video on federalism, which also involved Uson’s friend, Drew Olivar.
Uson was appointed OWWA deputy executive director on Monday, incurring the ire of social media and progressive groups.
Aside from her stint at PCOO, Uson was also previously board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). ARIC JOHN SY CUA

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