Padilla rebukes Castro over remarks vs Co: Not your job to ask questions

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Robin Padilla castigated Palace Press Officer Claire Thursday after she criticized the alleged inconsistencies in resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co’s video statements, as well as the change in his hairstyle.

Instead of guessing whether it was indeed Co who appeared in the video, Padilla advised Castro to just verify this with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

After all, it was not Castro’s job to ask questions, the senator said in a Facebook post.

“Your mandate is to respond and speak the truth,” Padilla reminded the Palace official.

Accompanying his FB post was a photo quote of Castro’s remark on Wednesday about the supposed changes, not just in Co’s story, but even in his hairstyle.

According to her, Co should “finish all his stories first because every time we criticize his inconsistencies, his story changes along with the hairstyle change in the video.”

In his videos, Co, who has been abroad since July, implicated President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and other ranking officials in Malacañang in the flood control projects mess. 

His latest allegation was directed at presidential son and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, who, he said, inserted at least P50 billion worth of public works projects in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets.

Padilla, in the same post, noted Castro’s absence at the budget hearing to answer the senators’ questions personally.

When the Senate tackled in the plenary last Tuesday the proposed budget of the Presidential Communications Office for 2026, the senator played an audio recording allegedly of Castro supposedly talking to trolls.

“I could have asked you personally whether you are the one they say is in the audio and whether it is true that 50 million is missing from your office, especially since your name has been mentioned on social media, along with the word ‘TROLL,’” the senator said.

“I am the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media. It is my job to ask questions about public information, not to accuse anyone. We each have our own mandates, so don’t try to play me with your long-winded explanations,” he told Castro.

Castro previously denied earlier reports that former Presidential Communications Office Secretary Jay Ruiz was removed from his position after P50 million supposedly went “missing” from his vault. /apl 

NOTE: The English translations in the article were AI-generated.