When on April 25 the Kuwait News Agency broke the news that the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry had announced that Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa was being declared persona-non-grata, and was being told to leave the country in a week, it was not clear to me what it was about. What was clear to me though was that there was reason for such a strong statement coming from the Kuwaiti government.

See, days before, I had combed through Presidential Communications’ Asec for Social Media Mocha Uson’s official Facebook page, after realizing that she was in fact in Kuwait covering the interwoven events happening there: the final batch of repatriated OFWs availing of the amnesty program of the Kuwaiti government, the state of OFWs in embassy shelters, and the rescue of OFWs (this is what she herself says in a live video dated April 19).

Watching her videos, listening to how she was speaking to government officials and OFWs, revealed what we all know to be Mocha’s basic lack of sense about the proper behaviour of government officials, but especially so during this highly sensitive situation. Suffice it to say that her kind of “coverage” would have been enough to do us in with the Kuwaiti government, especially given diplomatic relations vis a vis our overseas migrant workers. If anything, I thought Mocha was reason enough for the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry to demand that the Philippines do this whole task of diplomacy better. 

So on April 25, I had no idea that there was actually a rescue video floating around, or that it came from PH embassy officials themselves, or that it had been shared by President Duterte’s avowed propagandists. To be fair to Asec Mocha, I did not see it on her wall, at least not on April 23 or 24.

But contrary to what she now says (at least as of May 1), that she was there on the invitation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA), she did not mention that at all in her Kuwait videos. On April 19, 3:36PM, upon her arrival:

Andito na po tayo sa Kuwait sa wakas dahil marami pong nagmemessage sa’tin na pumunta tayo sa Kuwait, nandito na po tayo. Bibisitahin po natin yung mga OFWs natin sa shelter, sa detention center, at sasama rin po tayo sa isang rescue operation, hangga’t maaari may bibisitahin po tayo sa ospital, at kung may oras po kayo, bukas, April 20 sa Philippine Embassy, 4PM.

Nandito po tayo para tutukan ang mga natitirang araw na lang po ng repatriation ng ating mga undocumented OFWs.

It doesn’t seem so bad until she starts reading, out loud, what appears on her comments section, without thinking about the repercussion of those words. Here, she reads the comment of someone she also actually names:

Gusto ko lang po iparating Madam na kung i-lift na talaga ‘yang ban, sana siguraduhin lang po na talaga susunod na po ang mga Kuwaiti dito dahil matigas po ang puso nila.

It is in live videos like this one that Mocha reveals how ill-equipped she is for this position. It is not only unprofessional, it is also dangerous for our OFWs that their thoughts on their host countries are announced in this manner, read out loud by a government official on her official Facebook page. This is where we prove yet again that no matter how Mocha would like to pretend that her FB page is solely hers and not an official government page, it is in fact functioning as an official portal of the Duterte government’s actions, no ifs and buts.

As such in this instance, Mocha’s page is documentary evidence of how this government messed up big time, proving its failure to properly use social media, and revealing how DFA Sec Alan Peter Cayetano has no idea what it is he’s doing sending an ill-equipped social media Asec to “cover” what’s happening in Kuwait. After all, to have had Mocha there misses out on what is critical and necessary in such a highly-sensitive, high-risk situation: discretion and prudence. Neither of which Mocha has.

Case in point: On April 19, interviewing embassy officials, Mocha encouraged that OFWs in need of rescue be reported to her, through her live video’s comments section:

Sa mga may kamag-anak po o kaibigan na gusto ninyong ma-rescue po dito sa Kuwait, mag-comment po kayo para mapadala po sa kanila ang pangalan, at ire-rescue po natin sila. <…>

This idea that a “rescue” is simply a matter of a social media comment is highly irregular, and reeks of a lack of due process. How do you know that someone who comments on Mocha’s page actually needs rescue? How do you know if that is a valid cry for help, or just someone who seeks to escape an existing employment contract?  How do we know that OFWs in distress are actually in distress, if all we’re going on is a comment on Mocha’s page?

Having her encouraging OFWs to do it in this manner is enough of a diplomatic faux pas. But it gets worse: in conversation with OWWA AVP Arnel Ignacio for example, he actually jokes about OFWs in Kuwait, and how they’re not allowed to clap, how busy he has been visiting those in hospitals, ending by telling Mocha: “Pupuntahan namin yung pinainom ng klorox! Sama ka?” As if they were just going off to the mall to watch a movie.

The lack of discretion, the lack of sense about the fact that this is documentation of government activities, and of government officials’ articulations about the state of our workers in a host country — one where there are thousands of OFWs, both in the skilled and service sectors — is embarrassing, not to mention dangerous. It should be clear to our government officials after all, including President Duterte, that their articulations are enough to make Filipinos suffer in big and small ways, depending on where they are in the worker spectrum.

It’s one thing to say these things in private; another when you say it on live social media.

It was also in this April 19 video that the existence of “seven rescue teams all over Kuwait” was revealed.

In the aftermath of Kuwait’s announcement on April 25, DFA Sec Cayetano tried to build a timeline of what actually happened with Kuwait-PH relations. He tried to define which OFWs are considered as “distressed” and therefore in need of “rescue,” and tried to spin the rescues to have been for actual abused OFWs.

But Mocha, across all her live Kuwait videos, does not define what “distressed” means. Neither does she explain who qualifies as in need of “rescue.”

One can hear Mocha saying now that this is just about her sincerely wanting to help, and serving our OFWs. But sometimes the best way to be of service is to admit that you have no idea what you’re doing, and to admit that you have to be doing things better. Here’s the thing: when you claim that you have a bigger following than mainstream media, you also end up having the bigger responsibility.

That goes for ALL of Duterte’s propagandists living off their social media pages.

POSTSCRIPT: If Mocha’s claim that it was OUMWA that had flown her to Kuwait is true, then having her there falls squarely on DFA Sec Cayetano’s shoulders. This is one of many reasons why he should be called on to resign. Or why the President should fire him. ***