"Perhaps Vice President Sara Duterte needs a clearer vision and hearing aid so she can hear what President Marcos has been doing."

This was how Malacañang rebutted Duterte's remarks over Marcos' response to the corruption-ridden flood control projects in the country.

In an interview after attending the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget deliberations in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Sept. 16, the Vice President stressed that the President should simply “act” immediately and not waste time on such commission.

She said what Marcos is doing is not just "too little too late" but "he's doing nothingness."

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro fired back at the Vice President, saying that Marcos is actually doing something to resolve the massive corruption in many of the country's flood-control projects "compared to the past administration."

Castro even took a swipe at Duterte for having a talent at making people laugh even though she was not a comedian, and went on to question whether her father's time in office was a "living hell" as he was not able to solve corruption.

"May nakita po pala tayong ibang talent ng Bise Presidente – magaling po pala siyang magpatawa kahit hindi siya komedyante (It turns out we have seen another talent of the Vice President—she is actually good at making people laugh even though she is not a comedian)," she said.

"Kung ikukumpara ba sa nakaraang administrasyon na nagsabing korap mismo ang Pangulo at maraming ghost projects, ano ang itatawag natin sa panahon na iyon? Living hell (If we compare it with the previous administration, which itself admitted that the President was corrupt and that there were many ghost projects, what should we call that period? Living hell?)," she added.

Castro further said that the President formed the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to thoroughly investigate the years-long anomalies, and not just resort to an "extrajudicial killing" style of probe.

"Unang-una po, hindi po natin alam kung siya po ba ay matagal na nag-stay sa isang kuweba at hindi niya nalalaman ang mga nagaganap at hindi niya nalalaman kung ano iyong agarang isinasagawa ng ating Pangulo (First of all, we do not know if she has been staying in a cave for a long time and is unaware of what is happening, and of the urgent actions being undertaken by our President)," Castro said in a Palace briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

"Siguro po kakailanganin niya na po ng mataas na grado na salamin o kaya hearing aid para madinig niya kung anuman ang lahat ng ginagawa at mga inuutos ng Pangulo sa mga law enforcement agencies sa mga investigating bodies, kasama na po ang pagbuo ng ICI (Perhaps she already needs a stronger pair of eyeglasses or even a hearing aid to notice everything that the President is doing and directing the law enforcement agencies and investigating bodies to do, including the creation of the ICI)," Castro added.

She further said that the Vice President "keeps repeating the same issue," stressing that an investigation cannot be done in just one day.

"The President does not believe in an EJK-style approach, where there is no investigation and the grave becomes the only outcome. What the President wants is due process," Castro said in Filipino.

The Palace official also questioned the Vice President if she had moral ascendancy when it comes to corruption as Castro brought up the state of the country during former president Rodrigo Duterte's time.

Castro said if the Vice President knows how to eradicate corruption, she should have advised her father how to do it.

"Kung mayroon naman pong sistema ang Bise Presidente kung paano agarang masusugpo ang korapsyon na ito, sana po ay hiniling niya na rin po ito at ibinigay sa kaniyang ama (If the Vice President actually had a system to immediately eradicate corruption, she should have already shared it and given it to her father)," Castro said.

"Pero bakit hindi kaya? Siguro ito ang dahilan kung bakit hindi rin nasugpo ang korapsyon noong panahon ng nakaraang administrasyon dahil umamin mismo ang dating Pangulo na siya mismo ay korap; inamin niyang nagnanakaw siya pero naubos na (But why didn’t she? Perhaps this is why corruption was not eliminated during the past administration—because the former President himself admitted that he was corrupt; he admitted that he had stolen but that it was already gone)," Castro stressed.

To prove her point, the Palace press officer even showed a copy of a news article published in 2017 where the former president was quoted saying, "hindi ako nagmamalinis, marami rin akong nanakaw pero naubos na so wala na (I do not pretend to be clean. I also stole a lot, but it’s all gone, so there’s nothing left)."

"So, 2017 ito, sana naibigay na rin niya sa kanyang ama kung paano agarang masusugpo ang korapsyon (This was in 2017. If there truly was a way to immediately eradicate corruption, he should have already given it to his father back then)," she said.