THE Office of the Vice President (OVP) yesterday thanked all those who helped Vice President Sara Duterte when her chief of staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez, was confined at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) late last month after she was cited in contempt and ordered detained at the House of Representatives, which the OVP said was a “time of crisis.”
“Nagpapasalamat ang Tanggapan ng Pangalawang Pangulo sa lahat ng mga tumulong, sumuporta, at nagpaabot ng pakikiisa at pagdamay sa opisina nang humarap ito sa krisis at kagipitan kamakailan (The Office of the Vice President thanks everyone who helped, supported, and extended their solidarity and compassion during the crisis and emergency faced by the office recently),” the OVP said in a statement.
In particular, the OVP expressed its gratitude to Sen. Imee Marcos, the elder sister of President Marcos Jr., for ensuring that there was an order from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) which allowed Duterte and Sen. Ronald dela Rosa to accompany Lopez during her confinement.
“At kay Senador Imee Marcos na tiniyak na mayroong DILG order para payagan si VP Sara Duterte at Senador Bato dela Rosa na magbantay ng pasyente sa VMMC (Thanks to Sen. Imee Marcos for ensuring that there is a DILG order allowing VP Sara Duterte and Sen. Bato dela Rosa to monitor our patient at VMMC),” it said.
It added: “Salamat din kay Senador Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa na sinamahan si Usec Zuleika Lopez sa ospital buong araw noong November 23, 2024 sa Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC). Salamat din kay Senador Bong Go na humalili kay VP Sara Duterte (Thank you also to Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa for accompanying Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez in the hospital all day on November 23, 2024. Thanks to Sen. Bong Go, too, for stepping in for Vice President Sara Duterte).”
Lopez was cited in contempt and ordered detained by the House Committee on Good Government for allegedly feigning innocence when asked during the committee hearing how the OVP spent its confidential funds.
She was also cited in contempt for allegedly attempting to obstruct the House hearing after she wrote the Commission on Audit (COA) asking it not to submit its audit reports on the confidential funds that were subpoenaed by the committee.
Lopez was eventually confined at the VMMC in Quezon City after she had a panic attack when the panel ordered her to be transferred to the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) because of the Vice President’s insistence on accompanying her at the Batasang Pambansa, which was a violation of the House’s security protocols.
Lopez was released late afternoon of November 30 by the panel chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua.
Gina Acosta, the OVP’s special disbursing officer who was also among those ordered detained at the House after being cited in contempt, was given a furlough last week after she was also confined at the VMMC after her blood pressure rose during last week’s hearing amid intense questioning by lawmakers.
Duterte has been defying the panel’s invitations for her to explain the P612.5 million in total confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 that her offices – the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) that she headed in July 2022 until July of this year.
Following Lopez’s detention and subsequent confinement, the Vice President accompanied other OVP officials who appeared during the hearing last week and vowed to face the panel in future hearings again while she is facing investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for saying that she has ordered a hitman to kill the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez in case she gets killed.
The OVP also thanked the media for “exposing the state of the country.”
“Maraming salamat din sa media sa tuloy-tuloy na pagsisiwalat sa kalagayan ng bansa — sa pagbabantay laban sa kawalan ng hustisya, pandarahas at pag-uulat sa sinapit ng mga tauhan ng OVP at sa walang takot na malayang pamamahayag (Thank you very much also to the media for constantly exposing the state of the nation — for monitoring the injustice, violence, and reporting on the experiences of OVP personnel, as well as for their fearless commitment to free press),” it said.
