Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday, August 6, called on Palace Press Officer Claire Castro to observe professionalism in her public statements, arguing that Castro speaks not for herself but for the Office of the President.
“By the fact na spokesperson ka at mayroong seal ng Office of the President diyan, dapat maging professional ka sa mga sinasabi mo,” Duterte said in an interview in Davao City. She added that Castro, unlike ordinary citizens, does not have the liberty to voice any personal opinion because she speaks on behalf of the presidency.
The remarks were the latest in a running feud between the two officials. According to the Manila Bulletin, Duterte made the statement after being asked to react to Castro’s response to her earlier accusation that the Marcos administration had a hand in the arrest of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
That accusation stemmed from a “Free Duterte” rally outside the ICC detention center in The Hague, Netherlands, on July 29, where the Vice President described President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV as “traitors” and called the ICC a “lapdog” of the two men. The elder Duterte is detained in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity tied to his administration’s war on drugs.
Castro dismissed those claims at a July 30 Palace briefing, calling nearly all of the Vice President’s recent statements “baseless,” “useless,” and “nonsense,” and suggesting they stemmed from frustration over her father’s trial. She has also maintained that the case against the former president dates to 2017, when Marcos was still a private citizen, and therefore cannot be blamed on the current administration.
The ICC, for its part, has asserted that it operates as an independent and impartial body. Trillanes, who was among those who filed a 2017 communication asking the court to investigate the elder Duterte, rejected the “lapdog” characterization, saying the case resulted from a years-long investigation.
Once an ally of Marcos, the Vice President resigned from the Cabinet in 2024 and has since become one of the administration’s most vocal critics. She and Castro have traded barbs repeatedly over the past year.
