Solon: No reason Zuleika Lopez skips next hearing if no medical issue

The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability is expecting the attendance of Office of the Vice President (OVP) chief of staff and undersecretary Zuleika Lopez in the next hearing into the budget use of the offices of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong said this at a press conference on Monday, two days after the House of Representatives ordered her release from detention.

“If there’s no medical problem or immediate medical attention that she might need, I guess there’s no reason for her not to attend,” Adiong said.

“Nag-assure naman siya na [she assured that] she’ll be attending the next Committee hearings.”

Lopez, a longtime aide of Duterte, was transferred earlier to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) after she became emotional and distressed following the House’s order to move her to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).

She was ordered detained on November 20 after she was cited in contempt by the House panel for her supposed "undue interference" in the panel’s investigation into the confidential funds of the offices held by Duterte.

From then, the House good government and accountability panel extended the contempt and accompanying detention order to Lopez from five to 10 days.

“Prior to pag-discharge sa kanya [prior to her discharge], I think the Secretary General or SAA communicated with the physician attending Atty. Zuleika. The decision of the committee was to release her based on the number of days that she was cited under contempt,” Adiong said.

In a previous hearing, Lopez said she has no knowledge of how the OVP utilizes its confidential funds. She said her role in the OVP is only to oversee the institutionalization and implementation of all the socioeconomic projects of the office.—RF, GMA Integrated News