WITH PDP-LABAN 2019 ENDORSEMENT

STO. TOMAS–Love her or hate her but Pangasinenses should rally behind the possible senatorial bid of their kabaleyan Mocha Uson.

This was the initial reaction of former Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Antonio Villar Jr., a local political kingmaker in this vote-rich province to the announcement of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who announced her inclusion in the shortlist of PDP-Laban senatorial slate in the 2019 elections during the mass oathtaking of new Cebuano allies in Cebu City.

Villar, founding chairman of Biskeg na Pangasinan, the lone provincial political party accredited by the Commission on Elections, said it has been 30 years since Pangasinan voted a senator in the person of the late Leticia Ramos-Shahani from Lingayen and Asingan towns.

Villar said Pangasinenses should unite once more to push and support Uson, presidential communications assistant secretary, in case she heeds the endorsement.

While the province had its share in national and international political limelight with Fidel Ramos as president and Jose de Venecia Jr as House Speaker, no other Pangasinense has been elected to national position since, he said.

“Uson could be the next best hope to bring the Pangasinan flag to the halls of the Senate,” he added.

Villar noted that a number of national leaders always lay claim to have roots in Pangasinan to win votes in the province when in fact, they are not really Pangasinenses and they don’t even have residences in Pangasinan.

Other senatorial wannabes are already starting to make efforts to have some name-recall come election time “but Mocha Uson is already very popular and she is a fighter,” Villar said.

Uson, a known staunch defender of President Duterte, maintains a blog and a Facebook page that has registered 4.2 million followers. She also writes a regular column for The Philippine STAR.

Villar admits he does not know Uson personally only that she headed sexy ladies’ group ‘Mocha Girls’.

“Do not judge a person by the work she has done in the past. I admire her for speaking her mind on issues the country is facing. There are elected legislators, in Congress or in Senate, who barely talk because they have nothing to say,” Villar said.

Villar said he knew Uson’s dad, the late Regional Trial Court Judge Gary Uson, who was gunned down in 2002 on his way home from work. Gary’s wife, Estrellita, is a pediatrician. The Usons have their home in Amado St. (now Francisco Duque St) in Barangay Tapuac, Dagupan City.

Mocha Uson (Esther Margaux Justiniano Uson in real life) finished her primary and secondary schooling at the Mother Goose Special Science School in Dagupan City and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology at the University of Sto. Tomas. She was on her second year at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (UST), when she dropped out to focus on her musical and dancing career.

Uson wrote in her STAR column that she is not inclined to run for senator, saying that she hates politics and she would consider only if the President tells her to.

“Here’s a piece of the truth that’s not known to everyone: I don’t want to get involved in politics–not anymore. I want to go back to my private life where it’s more peaceful and much quieter,” she said in her STAR column following Alvarez’s announcement. (Eva Visperas)

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