Vice President Sara Duterte on Sunday morning said that her chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, has “allowed” her to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) to visit her children for the meantime.
“She allowed me to go see my children so as long as Sen. Bong Go will replace me and that I come back in the evening,” Duterte said in an update sent to members of the media.
GMA News Online sought clarification from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) if Duterte has already left the VMMC, but it has yet to respond as of the posting of this story.
Duterte has been with Lopez at the VMMC after the latter fell ill early Saturday morning amid the House of Representatives’ order to transfer her to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).
The OVP chief of staff and undersecretary was ordered detained at the House of Representatives after she was cited in contempt on Wednesday for her supposed “undue interference” in the panel’s investigation into the confidential funds of offices held by Duterte.
According to Duterte, Lopez has “demanded” her lawyers to stay outside her hospital room for 24 hours a day, and also requested for a daily lawyer meeting.
The Vice President also gave an update of Lopez’ condition in the hospital.
“She woke up several times in the night, had three dreams of someone smothering her with a pillow. No appetite, kumain ng fruit para makainom gamot [she ate fruit so she could drink her medicines],” Duterte said, adding that Lopez’ mother will arrive at the hospital on Monday.
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.
”This is a threat to my life,” she said.
The House panel said the decision to change Lopez’s place of detention was reached during an emergency Zoom meeting on Friday after the panel received two letters that raised “red flags” among its members.
Among them is Duterte’s supposed interference, which the panel warned could be a precedent for abuse. —RF, GMA Integrated News
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