Zuleika Lopez to resign as OVP chief of staff, Sara says

Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday said Atty. Zuleika Lopez, her chief of staff, has expressed her intent to resign from her post.

"She already expressed kanina, sabi niya (She already said earlier) 'I want to resign from the Office of the Vice President. And I told her, 'Okay,'" Duterte said in a media briefing.

"Sabi niya (She said) 'I want to go home to my mother. 'Pag natapos na ito, 'yung paghahanap niya sa akin, (After this is finished, the search for me), I will resign. And I will go home to my mother, I Just want to be with my mother," Duterte added.

WATCH: Sinabi ni Vice President Sara Duterte na magbibitiw na sa pwesto ang kanyang chief of staff na si Atty. Zuleika Lopez @dzbb pic.twitter.com/fvvdCKqdY9

— Luisito Santos (@luisitosantos03) November 23, 2024

Duterte, however, said Lopez's return home to her mother would be "truly impossible" at the moment.

"Alam mo (You know) at this point, that is truly impossible, at sinabi rin kanina, tapusin mo 'yung check-up (she was told to finish her check-up)," she said.

"So yes. On that point, nanalo si Martin Romualdez. She is resigning. Tatapusin lang niya 'yung hearings," Duterte said.

(On that point, Martin Romualdez won. She is resigning. She will just finish the hearings.)

Duterte has blamed House Speaker Romualdez for what's happening to Lopez.

“All because we are in this f**** farce… All because gusto ni Martin mag president,” the Vice President said.

Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives ordered the return of Lopez from St. Luke’s Medical Center to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

She previously expressed concern about the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability's decision to remove her from the House detention facility in the middle of the night.

"This is a threat to my life," she said.

The House panel said the decision to change Lopez’s place of detention was reached during an emergency Zoom meeting on Friday after the panel received two letters that raised “red flags” among its members.

Among them is Dueterte's supposed interference, which the panel warned could be a precedent for abuse.

Lopez was ordered detained at the lower chamber after she was cited in contempt for her supposed "undue interference" of an ongoing probe on the disbursement of confidential funds by the OVP and the Department of Education under Duterte.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News