Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro has submitted her courtesy resignation following the appointment of new Communications Secretary Dave Gomez.
On Wednesday, July 16, Castro acted on Gomez’s call for all PCO appointees to turn in courtesy resignation letters by Friday, July 18. In a True FM interview, Castro explained that she aimed to give Gomez “the leeway to choose the people he wants to work with at the PCO.”
“It is better if he is familiar with the people with whom he will be working with,” said the Palace press officer.
Gomez took oath as the new Communications secretary on Monday, July 14. “I need to conduct a fair, honest to goodness, unbiased performance audit in the office,” he told reporters that day.
In the radio interview, Castro said she was not aware of any complaints about her and has not heard any calls for her removal from the PCO.
While Gomez now serves as the fifth Communications secretary under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Castro is only the administration’s second press officer, preceded by Daphne Oseña-Paez. Castro was appointed earlier this year and took oath alongside former Communications Secretary Jaybee Ruiz in February 2025.
Castro is a practicing lawyer, having earned her political science and law degrees from the University of Santo Tomas. According to Rappler, she runs her own law firm. Like many previous press officers, she has also worked in broadcasting, hosting the legal advice radio show Usapang de Campanilla on DZMM from 2007 to 2020, as well as the 2015 ABS-CBN talk show 3-in-1 with broadcast journalist Karen Davila and actress K Brosas.
Since her appointment as Communications undersecretary, Castro has been described as the Marcos administration’s “attack dog” for her firmly pointed responses during Palace press briefings.
In a video interview with The Philippine Star, Castro said she did not receive any directive from Marcos regarding her approach to the Palace press briefings. Instead, she attributed her sharpness and “palaban” attitude to her being a trial lawyer. “Nagkataon na ito ako, si Attorney Claire,” she said.
Later on in the interview, she added that she was told to address disinformation. “Noong dumating kasi ako, ang pakiusap lang talaga sa akin ng pangulo ay… ‘yong fake news, maitama.”
