'He's in the Philippines': Castro defends PBBM from Sara

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro has defended President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. from Vice President Sara Duterte after the latter stated that Filipinos are losing hope as they do not “feel” the Marcos administration.

“Maybe she just doesn't feel anything because she doesn't see and watch the projects being implemented by the President and the administration,” Castro said in a televised interview.

She noted that all of the President’s projects and public engagements are being broadcast through Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) and through state-run channel PTV-4 for the public to see.

The Palace official also said the Vice President may be missing out because she is overseas and not in the country.

"The President is in our country right now, in the Philippines, working, while the Vice President is missing and abroad,” Castro said.

Duterte is currently in The Netherlands in support of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained in The Hague and faces a pending case before the International Criminal Court for charges of crimes against humanity in connection to his administration’s controversial war on drugs, which claimed thousands of lives.

The Vice President has formed her father’s legal defense team, headed by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman.

Invoking executive privilege

At home, President Marcos’ sister, Senator Imee Marcos, is leading a Senate inquiry into the arrest of the former president. Several Cabinet members have appeared before the Senate to respond to questions.

Among the officials who attended the hearing were Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Philippine Air Force Commanding General Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura, and PNP Chief Rommel Marbil.

Despite their appearance, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin sent a letter addressed to Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Senator Imee invoking “executive privilege.”

In the letter, Bersamin said Cabinet members may invoke executive privilege “against disclosure of information” related to presidential communications solicited and received from the President’s advisers, including discussions held during closed-door Cabinet meetings relevant to the Senate inquiry.

He stressed that such matters are classified as privileged information.

Castro clarified that the Office of the President can invoke such privilege, especially for conversations considered confidential, but Cabinet members are not barred from attending Senate hearings.

“It is the right of the President, the administration to exercise this executive privilege especially if the matter is confidential in nature,” she said.

“But they are also allowed to not attend hearings, they attended and answered questions that are not covered by executive privilege. There is nothing that can hinder the investigation here,” she added.

Should Senator Imee Marcos ask Cabinet members to attend the hearing again, Castro said Malacañang will not interfere.

“Our President will never stop other officials from attending so that the people can also be enlightened,” she said.

Castro on Monday noted Vice President Duterte has “obligations” to the public to explain the alleged misuse of confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd). She urged the Vice President to face the House and address recent developments, including the discovery of new names of recipients from the OVP and DepEd.

However, Duterte responded that she does not need to face the House of Representatives.

For Castro, it is up to the Vice President whether she will respond to the issues, but she reiterated that as a public servant, Duterte must answer to the people.

“It's up to her if she doesn't want to answer, but it's his obligation as a vice president, a public servant, to explain not only to the House but to the people because this is the people's money,” she said.