Marcos to Sara Duterte over smear campaign claims: ‘Prove it’

SINGAPORE – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. challenged Vice President Sara Duterte to prove her claims that his administration is behind efforts to “destroy” her.  

Duterte earlier accused the administration of orchestrating a smear campaign against her as she rejected dismissed cop Rodulfo Gracioso’s allegation that he delivered billions of pesos worth of cash to her.

“Sino ang nasa likod ng paninira sa akin? Administrasyon. Ang Palasyo. Si BBM [Bongbong Marcos]. Makikita niyo naman yung mga declarations, mga statement ng Office of the President eh,” she said.

“Well, it is fake news,” Marcos Jr. told the media during a press briefing in Singapore on Sunday, the last day of his five-day working visit.

“Ito na lang. ‘Yang mga sinasabing, ‘ganito ginagawa mo, ganoon.’ Sige, sige, prove it. Based on what? Based on what? You’re saying that based on what? Based on what? You know, I can say to somebody, ‘you’re a mass murderer. You killed 20,000 Filipinos.’ But I have to prove it,” he said. 

Marcos Jr. also backed a probe into Gracioso’s claims to verify their authenticity.

“Ang importante kung malaman natin kung ano ba talagang totoo. Ano ba talaga ang totoo? Totoo ba ito o hindi? Kung hindi totoo, ‘di good. ‘Di walang problema. Eh kung totoo, may problema tayo,” the chief executive said. 

“So, the first step in dealing with this whole situation, these allegations that are being thrown out, is let’s find the evidence and see what the truth is. That’s what’s important,” he added.

Meanwhile, Marcos Jr. lightly confronted Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro during the press conference, after he clarified the “Buwaon” (liar) remark against Duterte that Castro earlier attributed to him.

In a Palace press briefing on September 28, Castro attributed the term to the president in response to the second-in-command’s statement that Gracioso’s accusation was “an act of desperation from the Marcos administration” to bring her down. 

“Ba’t mo sinabi sa kanila ‘yan? That was only supposed to be [between] the two of us,” Marcos Jr. told Castro, who was beside him during the press conference. 

The chief executive argued that it was “not a particularly a reaction to anything,” saying that he was referring to a portion of Duterte’s statement that he is trying to tinker with the Constitution to prevent the conduct of the 2028 elections.

“Iyan ang reaction ko, ‘mga buwaon. Mga buwaon man ini,’” Marcos Jr. said. 

“I just got this report and I asked her, ‘Is it true that this report came out?’ And ‘yun ang comment ko sa kanya. Akala niya press release na pala ‘yun. Ikaw talaga, Ante Kler talaga oh,” he stated, adding that it was “not an official press release.”