Palace Press Officer Claire Castro on Thursday maintained that she played no role in Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s resignation as special adviser to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
Her statement came after Magalong said he quit the commission following Castro’s remarks that he had been appointed only as a special adviser and not as a lead investigator ‘or in any other investigative capacity During a briefing, Castro emphasized that she had no role in Magalong’s decision to resign, saying that it was entirely his choice.
‘This will be my last time addressing these issues. First of all, I cannot control his feelings; he resigned voluntarily, and no one forced him to do so. If that was his decision, I also cannot control how he makes his decisions,’ she said in Filipino.
She also clarified her statement from a September 26 briefing, in which she noted that Magalong was a special adviser to the ICI and not an investigator. ‘My pronouncement on September 26 that Mayor Magalong’s role would first be reviewed by the legal team, came from President [Ferdinand Marcos Jr.],’ Castro said in Filipino.
‘Do not create intrigue by claiming someone else ordered me to say otherwise. As we said, let’s avoid baseless stories. If he knows who allegedly gave me instructions, other than the president, regarding my September 26 statement, he should reveal it-but I know he cannot, because it is untrue,’ she added.
She also called on Magalong to refrain from spreading intrigue, especially if it could affect Marcos.
‘The president is simply following the law. We cannot please everyone based on their wishes if it affects the law or the president’s pronouncement,’ she said.
‘Hopefully, this issue will end here, and there will be no repeated controversies of this nature,’ she added.
In a chance interview on Tuesday, Magalong expressed frustration over Castro’s remarks, which he said cast doubt on his role in the ICI.
‘You saw it. It felt like I had no right to investigate. That was the message from Undersecretary Claire at her press conference. I was basically told, ‘You have no right to investigate because you’re only a special adviser,” he said in Filipino.
‘If no one investigates, what happens to the cases outside? They are focused on high-profile investigations, so there really needs to be someone acting externally to ensure they are understood. That’s how we catch up with them,’ he added.