The saying that a liar’s nose lengthens does not hold up, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro argued Wednesday night, turning the familiar line back on Sen. Imee Marcos as she pushed back against the senator’s claim that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had deceived the public during his fifth State of the Nation Address.
“Ang problema kasi sa iba dito, hindi ilong ang humahaba. Sa pagsisinungaling, hindi ilong ang humahaba,” the Presidential Communications Office undersecretary said on her program “Batas with Atty. Claire Castro.”
The remark was aimed squarely at the senator, who had branded her brother’s SONA disclosure of corruption charges reaching their cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, as an act of deception. Castro flipped the accusation, suggesting it was the President’s critics—not the President—whose account failed the truth test.
To back her position, Castro turned to the case of former senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. She noted that Revilla ran in the 2025 senatorial elections under Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, the administration-endorsed slate, only to later be charged by the Office of the Ombudsman—an example she offered to counter any suggestion that Marcos protects his political allies from prosecution.
The Ombudsman lodged graft and malversation complaints against Revilla and six former Department of Public Works and Highways personnel on January 16, 2026, over a P92.8-million flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan, that authorities say was reported complete despite no actual construction. Around P76 million was released for the nonexistent works, according to the anti-corruption office. Trial on the malversation charge began before the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division in early May.
Castro’s rebuttal extends a bitter, months-long exchange between the Palace spokesperson and the President’s older sister, whose accusations against the administration have repeatedly met with pointed public responses from the Malacañang podium.
