Palace press officer, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro, has once again hit Senator Imee Marcos for seemingly helping Vice President Sara Duterte get away from her case being tried at the impeachment court.

Marcos, who also sits as Senator Judge at the impeachment proceedings, had an exchange with the prosecution’s hostile witness, Duterte’s former Special Disbursing Officer (SDO), Gina Acosta, asking the latter if Duterte personally handled or took any of the P125 million confidential funds disbursed.

Marcos even asked if Duterte was beside her when Acosta was doing the reports or documents regarding the withdrawn confidential funds.

Acosta, however, replied that she never saw the Vice President take or keep any of the money.

Assessing the line of questioning of Sen. Marcos, Castro, in a Palace press briefing on Tuesday, said although it’s the Senator’s right to ask clarificatory questions, it’s very obvious where her questions lead.

“Unang-una, ay nais niyang malusot ang Bise Presidente sa mga akusasyon tungkol sa paggasta ng confidential funds. Dahil sa mga tanong niya, ipinapakita niya na ito’y hindi nahawakan physically iyong pera at hindi daw kasama sa paggawa ng mga dokumento,” she said.

“Pero, tandaan po natin, mismo ang witness ay umanin na ang nag-utos na ibigay ang confidential fund, ang buong P125 million, ay utos ng Bise Presidente sa kanyang security officer na si Colonel Lachica, pagdating sa OVP,” Castro, also a litigation lawyer, said.

She said that this only means that the control and command regarding the questionable confidential funds are solely under VP Duterte.

“So, hindi kailangang makita ng SDO personally kung nahawakan physically iyong pera; hindi naman kailangang hawakan ang pera —magastos; puwedeng iutos lamang ito. At muli, makikita dito ang kontrol, ang command ay nanggagaling sa Bise Presidente at iyon mismo ang inamin ni Ex-SDO ng OVP na si Gina Acosta. Hindi siya nagpatumpik-tumpik na aminin na ang lahat ng nag-utos na ito ay walang iba kundi si Bise Presidente,” Castro said.

Pattern

Further, Castro said Acosta’s answers are canned ones, and during Sara’s time as Davao City Mayor, she already received millions of unliquidated confidential funds.

“So, makikita dito na ang kinuhang SDO, since at the time na mayor di-umano si Bise Presidente, lumalabas na since then iyong SDO niya ay hindi marunong mag-liquidate. Mukhang since then, at the time na mayor siya na marami namang natanggap na confidential fund ay hindi nagli-liquidate nang naaayon sa rules,” she assessed.

“So, iyon ‘yung nakita nating pattern, iyon ‘yung isa sa mga na-reveal dito. So, paano magkakaroon ng magandang liderato kung ang mga pondong ito, sa ganito pa lang na halaga, ay mahihirapan na silang i-account. Tandaan natin, this is a public fund and this confidential fund is part of the public fund,” she stressed.