Sara Duterte attends House probe; Bato stays with Zuleika Lopez at VMMC

Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday went to the House of Representatives to attend the continuing panel hearing into the budget use and confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her stint as secretary.

Before leaving the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where OVP chief of staff and undersecretary Zuleika Lopez is currently confined, Duterte told reporters that she has to go to the House to accompany other OVP personnel who are attending the hearing.

VP Sara Duterte is here in Batasang Pambansa Complex amid the ongoing House panel inquiry on budget of the Office of the VP and DepEd under VP Duterte’s tenure as Education chief @gmanews pic.twitter.com/s0EaDGZIDR

— Llanesca T. Panti (@llanescajourno) November 25, 2024

“Kailangan ko samahan sa House hearing ‘yung mga OVP personnel na nandoon,” she said in an ambush interview.

(I have to accompany the OVP personnel who are in the House of Representatives for the hearing.)

Accompanied by their lawyers, the four — Lemuel Ortonio, Gina Acosta, Sunshine Fajarda, and Eduard Fajarda — attended the hearing after being cited in contempt and amid the possible issuance of arrest warrant for their repeated absence in the hearings.

VMMC

The Vice President said that Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa will be staying to accompany Lopez at the VMMC.

However, before she was able to leave the hospital, Duterte said Lopez started crying again and begged for her not to go, fearing that she would be taken somewhere else.

“Medyo natagalan kasi ayaw niyang maniwala sa doktor. Sinasabihan niya lahat ng tao na lumalapit sa kanya, ‘Wala akong tiwala sa inyo. I-lock niyo ‘yang door, ‘wag niyo siyang palabasin… ‘wag niyong palabasin si Inday Sara,’” Duterte said.

(It took me a while to get out because Lopez didn’t want to listen to the doctor. She was saying that she doesn’t trust anyone. She wanted the door locked and didn’t want me to go.)

“Hindi na lang umalis si Senator Bato. Nag-concede na lang siya na mag-stay dito kasi ‘yun ang apparently nagapa-kalma kay Usec. Lopez so nandyan si Senator Bato sa taas,” she added.

(Senator Bato conceded to stay and that’s what calmed Usec. Lopez down. Bato is upstairs.)

The Vice President also appealed to the media to help monitor the situation of her chief of staff.

Lopez, Duterte's longtime aide, was brought to the VMMC after she fell ill following the House of Representatives’ order to transfer her to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).

She was placed in the House detention facility after she was cited in contempt on Wednesday for her supposed “undue interference” in a panel’s investigation into the budget use of Duterte's offices.

On Monday, Lopez skipped the House hearing due to "acute stress disorder."

"As you may have been made aware, yesterday, 23 November 2024, I was admitted and confined in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and was subsequently diagnosed with acute stress disorder following the series of incidents leading to my eventual transfer to the said government facility," Lopez said in her letter to the committee dated November 24.

"In connection with the same, I am sincerely and humbly hoping for the kind consideration of this Honorable Committee in excusing my appearance for tomorrow's hearing," she added.

Attached to Lopez's letter was a copy of a November 24 Certificate of Confinement signed by doctors at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) indicating her condition.

The VMMC, meanwhile, assured Monday that it is continuously monitoring the health condition of Lopez. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News