Malacañang on Saturday rejected Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s claim that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. refused to support his proposal to grant every Filipino family P10,000 in cash assistance.

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro dismissed Cayetano’s assertion, saying Marcos could not have rejected a proposal that never reached his office.

“Why can’t Sen. Alan Cayetano stop himself from stirring up intrigue and peddling baseless stories? Instead of acknowledging his own negligence in his duties, he points fingers at others to save himself from embarrassment. He passes the work he fails to accomplish onto other people,” Castro said.

“We will present evidence to counter Sen. Alan’s lies,” she added.

Earlier on Saturday, Cayetano criticized the administration in a Facebook livestream following the government’s announcement of expanded financial assistance of up to P12,000 for more than seven million poor and low-income households affected by rising fuel prices triggered by the Middle East conflict.

The senator argued that if the government could now finance billions of pesos in targeted cash aid, it could have implemented his long-standing proposal for universal cash assistance.