Malacañang said yesterday that the color black “better describes the previous [Duterte] administration”, contrary to the claim of the political advertisement wherein Vice President Sara Duterte endorsed the candidacy of presidential sister, Sen. Imee Marcos.
“Probably ‘black’, which was truly black. But things are getting brighter with the incumbent administration.” Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Filipino at a briefing.
“We are close to becoming truly white… almost white. Maybe not perfectly white… but we are headed down that path under the current administration,” she added.
On Monday, Senator Marcos released via her Facebook page the 31-second video in which the Vice President and the Senator, who were both dressed in black, castigated the current leadership for supposed social ills.
“Black is the color of the country today because of hunger and crime… it is grieving,” they said in the advertisement.
When queried for the chief executive’s reaction to the video, Castro emphasized that Mr. Marcos rejects negative campaigning of any sort, especially if it is meant to misinform the voting public.
‘’Of course, the President does not like this kind of negative campaigning, especially when they are spewing fake news,” she noted.
Still, Senator Marcos proceeded with her offensive against her brother, urging him to “reflect” during the Holy Week, and insisting that his administration has “lost its way.”
“Maybe what I can say is that since it is Holy Week, let’ all take the opportunity to reflect. Let’s pray that we can correct our shortcomings. Let’s think about the lessons taught by my father,” she said in Filipino.
Senator Marcos also said that the “black” theme of the political advertisement was all the Vice President’s idea.
“It [script for the advertisement] happened so suddenly. We both forgot we were in a campaign. She wanted it to be ‘black’ to symbolize wrongs that should be corrected,” she told reporters in a virtual press briefing.