Vice President Sara Duterte — FILE PHOTO FROM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday said she may stay at the House of Representatives until next year, or as long as any of her personnel remain under detention after being cited for contempt.
Duterte is currently staying “indefinitely” at her brother Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte at the House of Representatives to allow herself to visit her chief of staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, who is currently under the custody of the Congress’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
“We are initially doing a planning session last night to stay here until after the new year’s, we were comparing the time period to Ilocos Six and ito rin yung period ng Ilocos Six [and this is also the period of Ilocos six] who spent Christmas and New Year’s [day] detained,” said Duterte in a sudden online press conference.
Duterte was referring to the six officials of Ilocos Norte who were detained in 2017 for a total of 57 days.
In fact, Duterte said she is open to stay with her personnel even until the current session adjourns in June 2025.
All this developed after Sara spent the night at the office of her brother to visit Lopez, who was cited for contempt by a House panel and was ordered detained for five days.
Meanwhile, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David Suarez, and Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe in a joint statement earlier said that Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas already asked Sara to leave the House premises after 10:00 p.m.
READ: VP Duterte ignores request to leave House after visiting chief of staff
However, the Vice President insisted on staying.