OVP Undersecretary and Vice President Sara Duterte’s chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez —Inquirer/Grig Montegrande
MANILA, Philippines — The House committee on good government and public accountability on Saturday ordered the release of Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff of Vice President Sara Duterte, whose 10-day detention saw her boss going ballistic and issuing death threats on President Marcos, his wife Liza and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Lopez, who first spent three nights in House detention before being allowed hospital treatment due to anxiety attacks, remained at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) as her contempt citation from the panel expired.
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Committee chair and Manila Rep. Joel Chua ordered House Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas to release Lopez from the chamber’s custody upon her completion of a medical examination.
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On Nov. 23, Lopez was brought to VMMC due to panic attacks after the House panel ordered her moved from the House detention facility to the Mandaluyong Correctional Institute for Women.
The order was given to force Duterte out of Batasang Pambansa, where the Vice President earlier came to visit Lopez and then refused to leave the premises, in defiance of House regulations.
Lopez, a longtime Duterte aide and law school classmate, was ordered detained by lawmakers who are investigating the Vice President’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.
In a hearing on Nov. 20, the committee cited Lopez in contempt for “undue interference” in its inquiry.
This was after it was revealed that she had requested the Commission on Audit to withhold its report on how the funds were spent. She also insisted having no direct knowledge of how the Office of the Vice President managed the funds.
Lopez’s detention triggered a standoff that lasted for hours between Duterte and the House security, during which the Vice President held a press conference online where she cursed and threatened the Marcoses and the Speaker.
In one of her outbursts, Duterte said she had hired a contract killer to assassinate the first couple and the House leader should an alleged plot to kill her succeed.