Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Spends Night at Office of Cong. Paolo Duterte after Visiting OVP Chief-of-Staff
PAOLO DUTERTE – The Davao City First District Representative requested the House panel if Vice President Sara Duterte’s chief-of-staff can be detained at his office.
At the recent hearing conducted by the House panel over the OVP and the DepEd budget use, the chief-of-staff of the OVP, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, was cited for contempt over her alleged “undue interference”. The House ordered her detention until Monday, November 25.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte visited her chief-of-staff and slept over at the House of Representatives after the visit. Reportedly, the Vice President arrived at Batasang Pambansa at around 7:40 p.m. and talked to Lopez until 10:00 p.m.
After her visit to her chief-of-staff, the Vice President went to the office of her brother, Davao City First District Representative Paolo Duterte, and spent the night there. Based on a report on GMA News, the Vice President has asked the panel if she can join Lopez but it was not granted as she’s not part of the detention order.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte said that Atty. Zuleika Lopez has some health issues and she wants her to accompany her during detention for her peace of mind. She stressed that the best alternative since it was not allowed is to stay at her brother’s office.
Davao City First District Rep. Paolo Duterte has also requested if Atty. Zuleika Lopez could be detained at his congressional office. However, based on the report, the panel declined the request of the lawmaker over the detention of the OVP Chief-of-Staff.
According to Vice Pres. Duterte, she already asked for a rope which she can use when drying her clothes after the laundry. Duterte also claimed that she planned to stay at the House of Representatives until after New Year. Regarding her safety, the Vice President claimed that only House Speaker Martin Romualdez wants her dead and he will allegedly not do it inside the Batasan complex.
Martin Romualdez recently raised the possibility that only Vice Pres. Duterte knows how the confidential funds were used. His statement came after the OVP officials that attended the hearing denied having roles in the disbursement of the funds.
The House Speaker stressed that the Vice President should be the one who must attend the hearing and not leave it to the OVP officials. Previously, Duterte claimed that she already did appear at the first hearing and refused to do so again as she was only sitting there and she was allegedly not even asked.
Currently, the Vice President is urged to account the P112.5 million Confidential Funds of her office. The House appropriated only P733 million as OVP budget for 2025 — more than a half lower compared to the P2 billion budget that the office requested.