MANILA, Philippines — After a standoff triggered by Vice President Sara Duterte’s attempt to keep her detained chief of staff Zuleika Lopez from getting transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), the House of Representatives finally settled for hospital detention for the latter.
In a memorandum, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said that at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Lopez was transferred to the government-owned Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) from St. Luke’s Medical Center, where she had preferred to stay while under detention.
“Considering that, as requested, Atty. Zuleika Lopez has been examined by the physicians and cleared by the St. Luke’s Medical Center, Quezon City, you are directed to transfer Atty. Lopez to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Quezon City,” Velasco said in a memorandum to House Sergeant-At-Arms retired Gen. Napoleon Taas.
“This is consistent with the standard practice of the House of Representatives to entrust detainees to government facilities,” he added.
He said VMMC doctors “can completely examine her and verify her state of health.” Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, who personally informed Duterte and Lopez of the latter’s transfer to the VMMC, said St. Luke’s had not yet finished the tests on her.
“The report that we got from PNP doctors showed that all her vitals are normal, including the ECG. That is why we are wondering why she has to be transferred to the St. Luke’s Medical Center,” Taas said.
“Perhaps second opinion, just for added peace of mind. But the last report to us by PNP doctors is her condition is normal. She is in pretty good shape,” he added.
Taas said the initial observation from the attending PNP doctor pointed to a panic attack as a possible cause of Lopez’s distress.
Lopez was ordered detained on Wednesday by the House committee on good government and public accountability after being cited for contempt for “undue interference” in House proceedings on the confidential budget of the Office of the Vice President. On the second day of her detention at House premises, Duterte visited her and decided to spend the night in the office of her brother Rep. Paolo Duterte.
Her declaration of her intention to stay at the House premises indefinitely prompted the committee chaired by Rep. Joey Chua to order Lopez’s transfer to CIW.
After complaining of dizziness and nausea, Lopez was rushed to the VMMC early yesterday morning after she spoke to the media at 1 a.m.
At a virtual press conference past midnight yesterday, a distraught Lopez bared that personnel from the Legislative Security Bureau (LSB) led by Capt. Belinda Bello entered her room at 11:30 p.m. on Friday, and allegedly took her phone and asked her to come with them to the CIW in Mandaluyong City.
“I have been trying to cooperate to the very best of my abilities. So, I don’t understand why they would just go to your room, get your phones, and then just tell you that they will move you to Women’s Correctional,” Lopez said.
While she was holding the press conference, lawyers from the OVP were trying to stop LSB personnel and police officers from enforcing the order to take Lopez to the CIW. Lopez insisted she would not leave the room.
Shortly after the press conference began, Duterte – then in her brother’s office in the same compound – arrived and took over from Lopez.
After the press conference, Lopez was rushed to the VMMC after she “collapsed after bouts of vomiting,” Duterte said.
Lopez was later transferred to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, where she “had always got her medical procedures and needs and has her medical records,” the Vice President added.
However, Duterte said they encountered difficulties transferring Lopez to St. Luke’s when police officers volunteered their ambulance just to “transfer her to the correctional facility.”
“The police are so dishonest. The reason why they wanted to board her on their ambulance is to bring her to the correctional facility. The police are not the ones who make calls about a patient. It’s the doctors and the next of kin,” Duterte added.
The Vice President branded the House’s order and attempt to take Lopez out of the detention facility as “attempted homicide,” and called for accountability for lawmakers and law enforcers involved.
“I believe it was attempted homicide. Because she was fearing for her life. If you saw her as she saw the police officers, she got rattled because imagine there were nine officers who would enter your room,” she said.
“We don’t have any problems. The person is detained there, attending hearings and we were visiting. We followed the rules on visitation. I don’t understand why you have to antagonize a detainee who’s fully cooperating in all she is needed for just so we can finish this hearing,” an irate Duterte told reporters.
Duterte also questioned the transfer order, which she said was “illegal” as it had not undergone proper vetting and approval from House leaders.
“Where is this special committee hearing [where this order was approved]? Because they need permission from the majority leader and the Speaker because there’s no work (in the House during Fridays). So how is that a legal order?” Duterte said.
Duterte said it was also questionable for the House to transfer Lopez to the CIW as she had not been convicted of any crime and maintained that her chief of staff had never done anything contemptuous.
While Duterte was unsure how they would stop the transfer order, she said lawyers had been assigned to decide on the matter.
“But right now it must be the mother of the patient who should call the shots. This patient is just a detainee for contempt. She’s not a drug lord, suspect or criminal,” the Vice President added. Sara later said Lopez wanted to resign from the OVP so she can spend more time with her mother.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro’s motion to cite Lopez in contempt stemmed from an OVP letter dated Aug. 21 to the Commission on Audit, advising auditors to ignore the House panel’s subpoena on several audit documents, since COA’s probe is not yet complete.
Although she signed the letter as an undersecretary of the OVP, Lopez claimed she was not involved in its preparation and that the content of the letter was a collegial position taken by the OVP.