Chief-of-Staff of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Cited for Contempt during House Hearing
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President visited her detained chief-of-staff and spent the night at the House of Representatives.
Currently, Vice Pres. Duterte and her office is surrounded by several issues including the questions on the use of the Confidential Funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as well as the budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) during her term.
However, Vice Pres. Duterte has repeatedly skipped the hearings set by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to clarify the matter. Duterte skipped the November 20 hearing at the House saying that she already attended the first one and she was not even asked.
Vice Pres. Duterte appeared at the very first House hearing over her office’s budget use but refused to take an oath. She also left the inquiry early upon the permission of the members of the panel. According to the Vice President, she will not attend the hearing again as she was just there sitting without being asked.
Recently, only the officials of the Office of the Vice President appeared at the hearing set by the House of Representatives. At the end of the hearing, Duterte’s chief-of-staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, was cited for contempt for “undue interference in the conduct of proceedings”.
The House ordered the detention of the chief-of-staff of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte within the House until Monday, November 25, 2024. Based on a report on Manila Bulletin, the Vice President visited her chief-of-staff at Batasan in Quezon City on November 21 and spent the night at the House of Representatives.
House Secretary General Reginald Velasco confirmed that Vice Pres. Sara Duterte arrived at around 7:40 p.m. on Thursday and visited Atty. Zuleika Lopez at the visitor’s center. They talked until 10:00 p.m. Based on the report, after the visit, the Vice President went to the office of her brother, Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte, and spent the night there.
“From then on, she stayed there…until now nandun siya (she’s there),” the House Secretary General said.
At the House hearing, the officials of the Office of the Vice President including Vice President chief of staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez, Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Gerome Tenido, Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey, Director for Administrative and Finance Services Rosalynne Sanchez, and Budget Division officer-in-charge Edelyn Rabago claimed that they had no roles in the disbursement of the Confidential Funds of the OVP.
Following the statement of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s officials in the OVP denying having roles in the Confidential Funds’ release, House Speaker Martin Romualdez expressed his belief that the Vice President must be the one to appear at the hearing and explain what happened to the fund.