MANILA (UPDATED) — Malacañang on Tuesday pushed back against Vice President Sara Duterte saying President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is behind the allegations against her, including claims by a dismissed police officer of cash deliveries to her and her relatives.
Duterte, in a press conference in her bailiwick Davao City rejected ex-cop Rodulfo Gracioso Jr.’s allegation that he delivered money to the Dutertes as instructed by former House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque.
Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a chance interview on Tuesday that Marcos Jr. has nothing to do with the allegations.
“Siguro yun talaga ‘yung mangyayari kapag wala ka na mahanap na pang-depensa, magtuturo ka na lang ng iba,” she said.
(Maybe that is what happens when you cannot find a good defense, you will just point the blame at someone else.)
She argued that Marcos Jr. has not been mentioned in Gracioso's allegations and that those who have been should be the ones to explain.
"At kung meron man siyang kakayanan na mag-explain bakit hindi pa ‘yan nagawa noon?" Castro said, adding that if the vice president had done that from the start, there would have been no need for an impeachment trial.
(And if they have the ability to explain, then why didn't they do that back then?)
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Castro also pointed out that the vice president presented annexes to address Gracioso's allegations but not on the accusations against her at the impeachment trial.
"[B]akit sa iba na talagang kailangan malaman ng taumbayan ‘yung katotohanan about confidential funds, sa mga pondong natanggap nila. Pero bakit tahimik siya, wala iyang Annex A, wala siyang Annex B, wala siyang Annex C?"
(Why wasn't it like this on something the people need to know — the truth behind the confidential funds and the funds they received... How come there is ni Annex A, Annex B or Annex C for that?)
Meanwhile, Castro also criticized Duterte's statement that her mother has advised her to stay in Davao and let her brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte to run in the national elections.
"Trabaho muna para sa mga kababayan natin ang unahin hindi puro pangangampanya para mai-angat ang mga sarili. Wala na ngang naitutulong sa bayan, nakakabigat pa sa ekonomiya ang mga taong puro paninira lang ang alam," Castro said in a statement.
"Ang totoong public servant...masipag umaksyon para sa bayan...hindi pwedeng walang alam ang laging panangga sa ibinabatong anomalya sa kanya," she added, alluding to the younger Duterte's testimony in the impeachment trial where he said that he was unaware his sister had declared a business interest in GenCorp Industries Incorporated.