MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte finally agreed to take her oath as a resource person of the House committee on good government and public accountability, to enable her to defend her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez.
Duterte initially questioned the House committee on good government and public accountability on the extended detention of Lopez, saying that it is “illegal.”
But before she could speak up to make her manifestations, panel chairman Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua warned Duterte that he would not recognize her unless she took her oath “to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
The Vice President took the oath after Chua’s warning.
“Mr. Chair, the position of undersecretary, the secretaries and other appointed positions are positions of trust and confidence by the appointment of who, Mr. Chair?” Duterte asked.
“The resignation letters of the usec (undersecretary) and asecs (assistant secretaries) of DepEd were accepted by the appointing authority. Who is that, Mr. Chair? The President of the Republic of the Philippines?” she pressed.
Chua concurred with Duterte, with the Vice President adding “it is not the secretary of DepEd.”
“So you asked the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Why did he accept the resignation of the usec and asecs?” Duterte said, to the apparent surprise of Chua and the other members of the committee.
Duterte went on to ask, “Why are you questioning the due process? Ask the appointing authority why he accepted the resignation letter.” This led to further confusion in the panel.
Chua replied that they would tackle the question of the Vice President at a later time.
“We are not yet in the matter that you have mentioned. We are not yet in the period of interpellation. I was just about to open the interpellation,” he said. “We are still conferring, the members of the committee. Please do respect it.”
“Yes, I am very respectful. I am dovetailing from Congressman (Rodante) Marcoleta. The appointing authority is the President of the Republic of the Philippines,” Duterte replied, further pressing Chua to answer why his panel questioned the due process of resignations and appointments of the undersecretary and assistant secretaries.
With her tone getting higher, Duterte said, “Sir, the person (Lopez) is in detention because you questioned the due process. Where is the explanation of your due process? I asked you earlier.”
“I did not answer,” Chua said, but Duterte got more aggressive, continually stating, “I heard you. I have seen you answer. You said the ‘secretary.’ All of you, you do not know that it is the President who is making the appointment.”
This prompted Chua to declare a one-minute suspension of the hearing.
Vice President Sara Duterte and four officials of the Office of the Vice President face the House of Representatives yesterday at the resumption of its probe on the OVP’s utilization of confidential funds. — Michael Varcas
“Mr. Chair, you need to reconsider the extension of her (Lopez) detention because it is illegal in the first place. You asked the President why he accepted the resignation,” Duterte said after the session’s resumption.
Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop advised Duterte to go to court if she has any questions about the actions of the House committee.
“I will go to court,” Duterte answered. “But every day, you are depriving a person of her liberty while I await.”
“Do you really want to reveal to the Filipino people your knowledge of the law?” Duterte asked Acop.
“What I am saying is let us follow the law of the House because you are in the house of the Congress,” Acop replied.
“We follow the law. Why will you penalize and punish Usec. Lopez for an act of the President?” Duterte asked.
Chua explained to Duterte that the detention for contempt of Lopez was made by the committee of the whole.
Duterte then lamented the proceedings, saying that the “Philippines is being embarrassed. Is this the kind of House of Representatives we have?”
Prior to Duterte’s taking her oath, Chua opened the committee’s seventh hearing with a fiery rebuke, asserting that Duterte and her team have resorted to theatrics and obfuscation to bury the truth behind mounting anomalies.
“Instead of answering all our questions, she staged siege-type actions inside the Congress and stated too many stories about the detention of Atty. Lopez,” Chua said.
He lambasted the diversionary tactics of the Office of the Vice President as they kept dodging the panel’s question on how the P612.5-million confidential funds given to the OVP and the Department of Education were spent.
The Manila representative also slammed Duterte’s breach of protocols in Congressunobet, citing this as the reason behind the transfer of Lopez to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.