Following the recent shakeup in the Marcos Cabinet in relation to the flood control corruption scandal, some social media pages are circulating a report that Palace Press Officer Claire Castro has submitted her courtesy resignation. The posts are misleading and the report is four months old.
Since Nov. 21, Facebook and TikTok pages have been sharing a 36-second clip from a News5 Frontline report on Castro’s resignation. The news bore the headline:
“USEC. CASTRO, NAGSUMITE NG COURTESY RESIGNATION ALINSUNOD SA UTOS NG PCO (USEC. CASTRO SUBMITTED COURTESY RESIGNATION IN COMPLIANCE WITH PCO’S ORDER).”
One of the posts carried the sarcastic caption:
“ANTE KLER NIYO MAG RESIGN NA DAW. SAYANG NAMAN. WALA NANG BUBUO PA SA AMING ARAW (YOUR ANTE KLER WILL SUPPOSEDLY RESIGN. IT’S A PITY. NO ONE WILL COMPLETE OUR DAY ANYMORE)!
These posts are misleading. The report is old and Castro remains undersecretary as Palace Press Officer in the Presidential Communications Office.
News5Everywhere’s YouTube channel first uploaded the video on July 16, two days after then newly appointed Press Secretary Dave Gomez issued a memorandum ordering all PCO undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors to file their unqualified courtesy resignations as part of the “standard transition process.”
Courtesy resignations are usually requested from appointed officials for the purposes of reorganization and evaluation of the staff’s performances. These do not mean automatic removal from office as these still have to be approved, in this case, by Gomez.
On July 30, Gomez confirmed that he has retained Castro, saying she is “doing a fine job.”
The PCO official website still shows Castro as an undersecretary as the Palace Press Officer.
The misleading posts circulated a day after a Malacañang Press Briefing where Castro addressed former executive secretary Lucas Bersamin’s claim that he did not resign, contrary to what she announced earlier.
According to Castro, the Palace acknowledged Bersamin’s clarification and said the former executive secretary “submitted himself to the president’s discretion and prerogative as part of the ongoing reorganization.”
Bersamin was earlier implicated in the questionable insertions in the 2025 national government budget that have led to the flood control corruption scandal.
VERA Files has debunked other disinformation related to Castro.
Three misleading posts by FB pages Vox Populi PH (created on April 25, 2023), taong bayan (Sept. 14, 2025), Karma Isreal (Aug. 16, 2019) have so far collectively garnered 10,286 reactions, 2,630 comments, 2,080 shares and 1,100,800 views. A copy posted by TikTok user maringaffiliates has also garnered 2,014 engagements.
