VP Duterte ignores request to leave House after visiting chief of staff

Vice President Sara Duterte. Composite image from Inquirer file photos

LEGAZPI, Albay — Vice President Sara Duterte was asked to leave the House of Representatives premises on Thursday night after visiting her chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, but she did not heed the request of House officials, according to the chamber’s leaders.

In a joint statement released Friday afternoon, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David Suarez, and Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas asked Duterte to leave the House premises after 10:00 p.m., but she insisted on staying.

As reported earlier, the Vice President spent the night at the office of her brother Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte. The Vice President visited Lopez, who was cited for contempt by a House panel and was ordered detained for five days.

READ: House panel moves to cite OVP exec Lopez for contempt

“The lower House of Congress is concerned about what happened last November 21, 2024, when Vice President Sara Duterte visited our buildings. We opened the doors out of consideration for her, we gave her a special permit to visit Atty. Zuleika Lopez, who is currently under our custody, even if it was past our regular visiting hours,” the officials said in Filipino.

“But after the visiting hours ended at 10:00am, she did not leave our premises. Instead, she went to the office of her brother, Rep. Paolo Duterte, and locked herself there.  Even if there were already several requests from our Sergeant-at-Arms that she leave, she disregarded these, forcing us to place a lockdown for the safety and security of everyone,” they added.

In a briefing, Taas said visiting hours are normally between 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but they extend it to 7:00 p.m. during session days, or from Monday to Wednesday when the House’s manpower is at full strength.

The House officials said the chamber’s protocols should be respected.

“We want to remind everyone, especially the officials of the government, that there are rules and protocols that we follow in the lower House, to ensure that the security and order is maintained. These are not easily breached, whoever that person is. If these are not followed, it seems we are destroying our respect for the institution that serves the public,” they said.

“The Congress is for every Filipino. This is not a place for people to abuse or for them to turn it into a personal space. If there is no respect for simple rules, how can we trust them to respect bigger responsibilities handed to them by the people?” they asked.

The House officials also said they would ensure that such a breach of protocols would not happen again.

“We would strengthen our rules, ensure that these are fairly implemented, and protect the integrity of our institution,” they added. “The Congress is here to truly serve the people. We hope this is what all other officials of the government would do. Let us together protect the trust and confidence given to us by the Filipino people.”

Lopez was cited for contempt after a motion from ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro due to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) official’s letter.

The letter was sent to the Commission on Audit (COA), asking the agency to refrain from giving the House its audit observations on OVP’s confidential funds (CF) expenses.

Castro believes that Lopez and the OVP were ordering COA, which would have prevented the House from scrutinizing the OVP’s transactions.

Before Castro’s motion, lawmakers were already frustrated with Lopez, as she insisted that there were matters in the OVP that she was not privy to despite being Duterte’s chief of staff.

Suarez asked Lopez how she insisted on not knowing about the OVP’s CF transactions when it was she who wrote the response to letters and summons regarding the issue, including the OVP’s answer to COA’s audit observation memorandum.

READ: Solons quiz Lopez over claims she doesn’t know OVP secret fund deals