Panelo: Mocha didn’t concentrate on campaign, probably overconfident of victory

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Wednesday said Mocha Uson's party-list is trailing in the elections probably because she became too confident of winning that she no longer concentrated on campaigning.

Uson is the first nominee of AA-Kasosyo party-list group which trailed other organizations with nearly 97 percent of election returns transmitted to the Commission on Election's transparency server.

AA-Kasosyo has so far received 116,815 votes, placing 73rd based on the partial and unofficial tally as of 5:01 p.m. Wednesday. 

"Isa lang ang ibig sabihin niyan: Hindi siya nag-concentrate sa pagkampanya. Baka she was overconfident considering na she has five million followers [on Facebook] and most of them are overseas na bumuboto. Kasi alam ko nangangampaniya siya for others," Panelo told reporters.

He found it "incredible" that the party-list did not perform well in the race with 59 seats up for grabs. President Rodrigo Duterte had endorsed Uson's bid for a congressional seat through the party-list system.

"Talo si Mocha? I can't believe that," Panelo said. 

Panelo said the result might have been different if the party-list was named after her.

"Siguro kung Mocha party-list, aba’y baka overwhelming [ang boto]," he said.

Uson resigned from her post at the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) ahead of the filing of candidacy papers in October last year and amid lawmakers' demands that she appear before a congressional hearing on the PCOO's budget for 2019.

The former entertainer and blogger had courted controversy for allegedly spreading online disinformation.

She also drew criticisms from the public after posting a racy video on federalism and a video of her friend, blogger Drew Olivar, flailing his arms around pretending to do the sign language of the deaf community. — MDM, GMA News