Stoning Mocha Uson

BAÑOC

Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”- Jesus Christ (John 8:7 NIV)

There are two controversial issues trending online that landed at the table of the assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, Mocha Uson.

First is the Alumni Award for Government Service given to her by the University of Sto. Tomas Alumni Association Inc. (UST-AAI) and second was her mistake in saying that Mt. Mayon is in Naga City instead of Legaspi City in Albay.

On both issues Mocha doesn’t deserve to be mocked out of proportion. After all, those issues are just minor and don’t affect the lives of Filipinos, although I should say that Mocha should also learn some lessons out of these issues.

Let me start with the award given to her by UST-AAI. I wonder about the motives of those people who lambasted Mocha for receiving such award.

What do they really want? Why do they continue to castigate her even if she already returned the award?

If we carefully analyzed such an event, Mocha was not at fault being recognized by the alumni association of her alma mater, UST. A recipient of an award who in the first place neither asked nor paid for it should not be made at fault. The mockery should rather focus on the award winning body as to why did it include Mocha as an awardee.

One cannot fail to notice, however, that the main target of the attack was Mocha, and those people responsible for giving her the award were just made collaterals.

What if Mocha did not accept the award?

What if Mocha did not appear during the awarding night?

Will she not be attacked online for insulting the award-winning body, the UST-AAI?

Will she not reap bad comments from fellow Thomasians for snubbing her Alma matter?

So Mocha’s decision to accept the award was correct for at least she showed respect to the award-winning body.

And her decision to return the award after knowing that there are people who are unhappy for her being recognized by UST-AAI is also correct.

However, she herself wonders why she continued to be attacked despite the fact the she already returned the award.

The second issue is her error in geography by saying that Mt. Mayon is in Naga instead of Legaspi in Albay. For me, Mocha, being an assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, should double check her information before making them public.

Mocha committed a mistake. It is not debatable anymore.

In fact, she admitted it and made corrections. She manifested her humble character by admitting her mistakes. So what else do people want from her? Why do they continue to attack her?

Was the mistake she committed unforgivable? Did it pose danger to the lives of the Filipinos? I don’t think so. We should remember that no one is all knowing.

No one has the monopoly of knowledge. Such that you cannot expect anyone to know everything. No one is perfect.

Because Mocha has been attacked out of proportion, people can’t be blamed if they think that it happens because some are just jealous of what she has reached in her life today.

Some must have envied her because she is an appointee of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Maybe her fellow Thomasians belittle her knowledge and think that she is undeserving of her position. Some might be judgmental because of her background as a sexy star.

This continued attack of Mocha exposes two things: lack of issues and collective hypocrisy.

If all we could do is bash Mocha, perhaps it is an attempt at making up for our failure to let all other issues against the administration, such as EJK, stick.

If we are noisy like shallow water on insignificant issues related to Mocha, yet very silent on explosive issues such as the Dengvaxia controversy that could put the lives of more 800,000 children in danger and worry their parents, that’s plain hypocrisy.

And with regard to awards conferred by schools, well, awards have been given to politicians who rob the Filipino people day in and day out, yet none of us rise in protest, and all these because some people think they are holier than Mocha.

I just remember the judgmental Pharisees who brought a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus,

“Teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?”

Such question was used to trap Jesus. When they kept on questioning him, Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his fingers.

Then he said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

I think we all know about this Bible verse, especially the graduates of UST, a school run by Dominican priests.

This verse is worth reflecting on.