Sara Duterte: Zuleika Lopez to take legal action vs extended House detention

Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said her chief of staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez will take legal steps after the House good government and accountability committee extended her contempt and accompanying detention order from five to 10 days.

“Ang sabi niya…she’ll take legal steps. ‘Yun ‘yung sabi niya sa akin and then sinabihan ko siya na hindi na ako sasali sa discussion na ‘yan. Kausapin mo na lang ‘yung mga lawyers mo,” Duterte said in an ambush interview at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

(She said...she'll take legal steps. That's what she told me and then I told her that I will no longer participate in that discussion. I told her to just talk to your lawyers.)

The detention order extension developed after the House panel adopted the motion made by Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers party-list, saying Lopez’s false statements that the House security personnel barged in her Batasan detention center on Saturday dawn, even if the videos of the incident showed otherwise.

But Duterte questioned the extended detention for Lopez, saying that it is “illegal.”

According to the Vice President, Lopez has started meeting with her lawyers on Tuesday and her aide’s mother who is also knowledgeable about court cases would also help in the next steps.

“‘Yung nanay niya used to work for the courts in Davao City so may alam sa batas and court cases ‘yung [hawak] ng mother ni Usec. Lopez. ‘Yun din sabi ng mama niya, ‘We want to take this in the courts,’” Duterte said.

(Her mother used to work for the courts in Davao City so Usec Lopez’ mother knows about law and court cases. Her mother said that they want to take the matter to the courts.)

She also said that Lopez, who has been confined at the VMMC since Saturday, no longer cries.

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.

During the same conference, Duterte said she contracted an assassin to kill President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez, should anything bad happen to her.

Gina Acosta

Duterte on Tuesday also gave a quick update about the condition of her staff, Special Disbursement Officer Gina Acosta, who was also rushed to the VMMC on Monday amid the House hearing.

“Kagabi nag-CT scan siya kasi they wanted to rule out the stroke. So hindi ko rin alam kung ano results. Hindi ko rin nakita, hindi nasabi sa akin,” she said.

(Last night, she had a CT scan because they wanted to rule out the stroke. So I don't even know what the results are. I didn't see it either, I wasn't told.)

Acosta was rushed to the hospital amid questions on her knowledge on signatories on receipts used to justify the disbursement of P125 million confidential funds of the OVP in 2022.

She was seen being wheeled out of the Batasang Pambansa at 6:13 p.m. amid the ongoing House good government and public accountability panel inquiry on budget use of the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s tenure as Education Secretary. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News