Malacañang on Tuesday hit back at Vice President Sara Duterte’s spokesperson, Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., after he criticized President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for dismissing Duterte’s call for him to resign.

During a Palace press briefing, Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro defended Marcos’ response to Duterte’s remarks and said the President was referring to the Vice President’s personal anger toward him when he said she could not force anyone to love him.

Panelo, in a statement posted on his official Facebook account, said Marcos was “out of touch with reality” for treating Duterte’s accusations of corruption and abuses in government as stemming from her personal anger toward him.

“The fact that President Marcos trivialized Vice President Sara Duterte’s serious accusations of historic corruption and grave abuses in government as the product of her ‘personal’ anger toward him, and answered, ‘What can I do? You cannot force anyone to love you,’ while millions of Filipinos suffer every day from the incompetence and plunder of this administration and its allies, only prove that he is out of touch with reality and not fit for office,” Panelo said.

“The country does not need his excuses. It needs his resignation,” he added.

Panelo was reacting to Marcos’ remarks on 11 September, when the President was asked about Duterte’s call for him to resign during an event at Quezon City Hall.

“You know I hear about them, I don't really have a response. She's very angry. I suppose with what's happening to her. And I am the target of that anger... or the main target for that anger,” Marcos said.

“What can I do?...You cannot force anyone to love you,” he added.

Castro said Panelo’s criticism actually reinforced the President’s characterization of Duterte’s remarks as driven by personal anger.

“Pag sinabing ‘out of touch’ sa reality ang Pangulo, nung sinabi niyang, ‘What can I do? You can’t force anyone to love you,’ nagre-refer po ito sa personal anger ng Bise Presidente na sa pananaw ng Pangulo ay siya yung target,” Castro said.

Castro also criticized Duterte’s continuing demand for Marcos to resign, saying it had no legal basis.

“The demand for the president to resign without any legal basis and in order to put in place the principal of the spokesperson is definitely, absolute delusional,” she said.

Castro said holding the presidency requires more than the ambition to lead, citing the need for competence, knowledge and preparedness in dealing with strategic national issues.

“Hindi sapat ang ambisyon para mamuno, kailangan ang kakayahan, sapat na kaalaman at kahandaan sa mabibigat na usapin ng bansa, lalong lalo na yung mga strategic initiatives tulad ng West Philippine Sea at ng Pax Silica,” she said.

She also criticized Duterte for questioning the administration’s performance while facing an impeachment trial.

“Madaling magbintang, madaling magsabi na walang nagagwa ang isang Pangulo dahil mismo ang nagsasabi nito ay walang nagiging trabaho,” Castro said.

Castro said her role in the Palace was to respond to allegations against Marcos that she considers baseless.

“I will just make a response, to all allegations that may be given without any basis and that is my job, that is my mandate, to refute all the fake news and all the misinformation that may be coming from critics or from Duterte supporters like him,” she said.