Photo courtesy: RTVM
As if she can make a score for her beleaguered boss, Malacanang Spokeperson Kler Castro boisteriously throw a question to the public whether they are prepared for many more ‘Mary Grace Piatos’ after the declaration of Vice President Sara Duterte that she is prepared and ready to replace Pres. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. According to Castro it is not right for the Vice President to expect that the President will resign and that it is clearly a ‘political destabilization’.
The question which was posted on Meta elicited scores of reactions which could have made the garrulous President spokesperson cringed. Castro was referring to the alias ‘Mary Grace Piatos’ in the VP’s ₱125-million Confidential and Intelligence Funds report submitted to COA which anti-Duterte and leftist Congressmen had been harping on to discredit VP Sara.
Castro, who is obviously overwhelmed by calls for resignation of President Marcos over the magma of scandalous corruption that former Appropriation Chairman Zaldy Co exposed in a graphic series of video releases. She tried vainly to divert the rising tide of calls for Marcos to step down with her Mary Grace Piatos fudder but this only backfired on her face and that of Bongbong like the murk of corruption they are mired in.
Reactions on Facebook are diverse it would take a face as thick as the rhino’s not to be bothered and battered. Thinkof these: “That Piatos has supplied vital intelligence information that led to the assault of New Peoples Army hideouts”; “that Zaldy Co and Martin Romualdez are the only ones who control the government budget”, and more snide remarks.
Come to think of it, who knows it must be Mary Grace Piatos who must have tipped the VP how and where the ACT Teachers gathered the Indigenous People’s children and where they will be brought for indoctrination? The discovery of the plot led to the filing of the case against ACT Representative France Castro and her eventual conviction (she is out on bail) by the Regional Trial Court of Tagum.
In hindsight it must have also been Mary Grace Piatos who provided a vital info leading to the discovery of a halfway house called ‘Haran’ . The place is located in the compound in Davao City where IP, children who were earlier reported missing, were also reported to be undergoing indoctrination.
Well, that is as far as alias Mary Grace Piatos is concerned.
The key issue here is whether Vice Pres. Sara should take over in case Marcos resigns, over-thrown or incapacitated? This is undebatable for in the law of succession is clear and unequivocal: the VP comes first – the designated survivor, not Senate Pres. Sotto and definitely not Ramon Ang whether he successfully runs a business conglomerate or owns the moon.
Spokesperson Kler Castro should not belabor the issue because her garrulity only stirs suspicions Marcos may abdicate. As the terminated Executive Sec. Lukas Bersamin advised her, she should first consult people in the know before she opens her mouth, otherwise, keep her mouth shut.
