“Are you ready for more Mary Grace Piattos?” 

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro asked, should there be a change in leadership with Vice President Sara Duterte taking over from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should he step down from office.

This after Duterte was earlier asked if she was ready to take over the presidency and she had answered in the affirmative.

Under the rules of succession, the Vice President is next in line after the President.

“This is definitely a form of political destabilization,” Castro said, expanding Malacañang’s response to Duterte.

 “It is not acceptable for a Vice President to anticipate the resignation of the President, a President that has been urged to step down,” she said.

“She weakens the public confidence in the people in the administration. And those words contribute to a climate of uncertainty and crisis. If she is ready, we will see. She anticipated that the President would be lost — that is their plan, that is their thinking, and that is what they’re doing now.”

“Mary Grace Piattos” was a supposed beneficiary of the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when Duterte headed the agency. A search for her turned up negative, leading to the realization that the name was taken from a popular bakeshop and a potato chips brand.

Fit to lead

With calls for resignation, talk of succession, of forming a transition council and a military junta — all connected to the President’s ability to lead the nation — is Marcos still able to lead, Castro was asked.

“Is that still being asked? Of course!” she said.

She cited the President’s work and everyday activities as evidence of an active government.

“We see the President’s work, he works non-stop every day. He doesn’t even get a vacation and doesn’t get to go to the beach to swim. So who is really ready to be the leader of the country? None other than President Marcos Jr.,” Castro said.

The Vice President was spotted in a resort in Quezon province days before super typhoon “Uwan” (international name: Fung-Wong) recently made landfall in the Philippines.

Not Robin’s madam

Castro, meanwhile, denied the claim of Senator Robin Padilla that she was behind the voice clip presented before the Senate during budget deliberations for the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

“For the satisfaction of Senator Robin Padilla, I am not the one in the video clip. To our knowledge, this video has already surfaced and shows a different face being mentioned as ‘madam,’” she said.

She added that the mainstream media did not pay attention to the matter as the audio clip’s source was unverified.

“I deny that the person, or any of the two there, was the one I was talking to a certain vlogger,” she added.

During the budget deliberations, Padilla played a recorded audio clip of a conversation between two women — a “madam” and another individual — discussing using trolls as part of a campaign.

Senator Loren Legarda, who sponsored the PCO budget, interjected, seeking the veracity of the audio file. Senate President Vicente Sotto III recommended that the National Bureau of Investigation examine the audio file.

Castro then asked Padilla to identify the source of the audio clip.

“Where did he get this, what source did it come from? As far as we know, it’s not from the mainstream. If it came from trolls, it’s his obligation to say what the source is,” she said.