Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Vice President Sara Duterte should herself cease name-calling and ad hominem attacks if she does not want the same in return.

“Mas maganda rin po na kung ayaw makarinig ng ad hominem, mag-start din po sa mga taong nagsasalita ng masasama, worst o masasamang pag-describe sa kapwa tao,” Castro said during a press briefing at the Malacañang on Wednesday.

“Siguro dapat magsimula kay Bise Presidente na maging magalang din sa pananalita para hindi rin naibabalik sa kanya,” she added.

The statement comes in response to Duterte’s statement, shared on her official social media, wherein she denounced what she described as “insults” thrown at her during the recent impeachment trial sessions.

In her earlier statement, Duterte said insults were unnecessary when a case was “strong.”

“A strong case does not need the adornment of theatrics. A Senator calling a witness ‘stupid,’ a lawyer calling me the ‘mastermind of a scam’ or another witness referring to me as a ‘brat,’ does not prove a case, nor does it produce evidence,” the Vice President said.

“Insults reveal the need to feign confidence in the face of a weak presentation,” she added.