Malacañang’s mouthpiece, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro, has challenged former lawmaker Mike Defensor to prove that the Executive branch is blocking the filing of an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

This after Defensor dubbed the impeachment complaint filed by Atty. Andre de Jesus a “scam” and the President was involved in blocking the additional cases filed by other parties.

Defensor should substantiate his accusation against De Jesus. “Anyway, Atty. De Jesus has already admitted that he worked as counsel for the PDP-Laban Duterte faction. We have nothing to do with their bickering,” Castro said.

The first impeachment complaint, which Pusong Pinoy party-list Rep. Jernie Nisay endorsed, has been met with doubts, with opposition groups, including President’s sister, Senator Imee Marcos, dismissing it as a “scripted distraction.”

Garafil not available

While the second impeachment complaint filed by progressive groups, and a third filed by lawyers and former lawmakers allied with the Dutertes, were submitted to the House Office of the Secretary General on Thursday, they were not accepted because Secretary General Cheloy Garafil was unavailable.

Garafil’s declined to accept the impeachment complaints, saying that they were not authorized to do so.

Meanwhile, the President’s son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, said no one was blocking the impeachment complaints filed against his father.

The young Marcos, who represented his father at the launch of the Bagong Pilipinas Merit-Based Scholarship Program at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena in Laoag City on Friday, maintained that the House of Representatives is constitutionally bound to accept and hear impeachment complaints against any impeachable officer, whether it’s the President or not.

“So for those who are saying the impeachment may be blocked, I cannot do that. I have to perform my duty as majority leader to the Constitution and my mandate. That is to say I cannot stop any impeachment complaint from being referred to the floor or to the Committee on Justice. We have to go through the process, and again, the President and Malacañang have stated that he is confident that he has done nothing wrong,” Marcos said.

Castro on Tuesday said the impeachment complaint against the President could hurt the Philippine economy by eroding investor confidence in the country.