Palace: Sara is talented in spreading falsehoods

MANILA, Philippines — Tell it to the Marines.

This was Malacañang’s reaction to Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim that she has stopped talking to her senator allies because the Marcos administration threatens or harasses those who help or speak to her.

Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said Duterte has a “talent” for spreading falsehoods, citing the Vice President’s previous claim that the cheap rice offered by the government is only fit for pigs.

Castro also alluded to Duterte’s claim that First Lady Liza Marcos was mentioned in a Beverly Hills police report about a death caused by a drug overdose.

The Beverly Hills police clarified that the report, which circulated on social media, had been altered, according to the Philippine consulate in Los Angeles.

“It’s another storytelling lie... We do not know when their talent for spreading fake news originated,” Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.

“There’s the fake police blotter, altered police blotter from Beverly Hills. There are also fake videos, not just one but two, that were used against the President and the First Lady. All of them are fake. So who has the capability to commit violence? Who issued a threat to life? With regard to these statements, just tell it to the Marines.”

Duterte, a former close ally-turned-arch critic of President Marcos, told reporters in Zamboanga last Monday that she no longer speaks to people to spare them from the wrath of the administration.

The Vice President resigned as education secretary and vice chairperson of the government’s anti-insurgency task force in June 2024, after her relationship with the Marcoses soured.

‘Fake news peddler’

At the same press briefing, Castro slammed Duterte ally and former presidential spokesman Harry Roque over a social media post that triggered rumors that the President has colon cancer.

Roque, who has applied for political asylum in the Netherlands, recently posted on social media a photo showing Marcos at a public event and asked whether he was wearing a colostomy bag.

“These are rumors, gossips that are not true and are meant to malign the government, malign the President and affect the economy,” Castro said.