Sara Duterte to temporarily leave Zuleika Lopez at VMMC

Vice President Sara Duterte on Sunday morning said that her chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, has “allowed” her to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) to visit her children for the meantime.

“She allowed me to go see my children so as long as Sen. Bong Go will replace me and that I come back in the evening,” Duterte said in an update sent to members of the media.

In an ambush interview before Duterte left the VMMC, she said that Lopez has not yet settled down in the hospital, but the Vice President “pleaded” to her to be able to see her children first.

“Nagpaalam kasi ako kagabi, I pleaded with her na pauwiin ako para makita ko ‘yung mga anak ko. Initially, ayaw niya tapos umiyak na naman siya. And then, hindi muna ako nag-ano, pinabayaan ko muna siya sandali and then inulit ko na ‘yun na naman ulit,” Duterte told reporters.

(I pleaded with her last night to allow me to go home so I could see my children. Initially, she didn't want me to, and then she started crying again. I let her be and then I repeated my request.)

According to the Vice President, Go and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa will be accompanying Lopez while she is away.

Duterte said Lopez still fears that authorities will transfer her to another facility, which why she will return this evening.

The Vice President has been with Lopez at the VMMC after the latter fell ill early Saturday morning amid the House of Representatives' order to transfer her to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).

The OVP chief of staff and undersecretary was ordered detained at the House of Representatives after she was cited in contempt on Wednesday for her supposed "undue interference" in the panel’s investigation into the confidential funds of offices held by Duterte.

According to Duterte, Lopez has “demanded” her lawyers to stay outside her hospital room for 24 hours a day, and also requested for a daily lawyer meeting.

The Vice President also gave an update of Lopez' condition in the hospital.

“She woke up several times in the night, had three dreams of someone smothering her with a pillow. No appetite, kumain ng fruit para makainom gamot [she ate fruit so she could drink her medicines],” Duterte said, adding that Lopez’ mother will arrive at the hospital on Monday.

An emotional Lopez earlier faced a virtual news conference to express her concern of 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 Duterte's supposed interference, which the panel warned could be a precedent for abuse. —RF, GMA Integrated News