Vice President Sara Duterte's visit to the House of Representatives Thursday night--which transformed into an impromptu overnight stay--caught House employees by surprise.
TImeline: VP Sara's unannounced stay at House of Representatives
At a glance
Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)
Vice President Sara Duterte's visit to the House of Representatives Thursday night--which transformed into an impromptu overnight stay--caught House employees by surprise. The story continues to develop as of this posting.
Here's the timeline of Duterte’s surprise appearance at the House in Batasan, Quezon City, according to Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas:
2 p.m. (Thursday) - Vice President Duterte's advance party arrives at the House.
Just before 4 p.m. - The Vice President's security team coordinates with the House Legislative Security Bureau.
"We basically briefed them about our House rules, security protocols, and our guidelines," Taas said.
4 p.m. - House receives word that the Vice President is on her way.
7:45 p.m. - Vice President Duterte arrives at the House.
"She was brought directly to the visitor's center of the House of Representatives situated at near the south gate. We also brought Usec. Zuleika Lopez for them to meet," said Taas.
10 p.m. - Visiting hours lapse. Duterte and Lopez prepare to leave the visitor's center.
10:03 p.m. - Lopez heads back to House detention center.
10:05 p.m. - Duterte boards her convoy of vehicles. House security personnel think she is about to leave.
"Her convoy went straight ahead to the South Wing Annex (SWA) [of the House of Representatives]...and we were informed that VP woud just change using the room of the Honorable Pulong Duterte (Room 304). And so we waited," bared Taas.
11 p.m. - Taas goes to check on Vice President at the SWA "to find out what's causing the delay".
11:30 p.m. - Taas personally appeals to the security and protocol of the Vice President to leave the premises.
"There's always a practice during long weekends that we turn off power in all our buildings...it's because to save on energy...and second, to prevent occurrence of electrical fire...standard ho nating ginawa yun (it's standard practice)," the sergeant-at-arms said.
Around midnight (Friday) - Vice President Duterte and her close-in team lock themselves inside Room 304.
12:30 a.m. - Power is turned off at the House of Representatives.
"Normally nga po it's at 10:30 p.m. na ginagawa natin na ino-off (Normally we turn it off at 10:30 p.m. In the case of last night, in defence to the Vice President, inabot ho tayo ng 12:30 a.m. (we waited until 12:30)," Taas said.
7:30 a.m. - Power is turned back on at SWA.
10:53 a.m. - Vice President Duterte leaves Room 304 of SWA and goes to the detention facility where Lopez is held.
11:07 a.m. - Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, allows Duterte to once again visit Lopez.
It was the Chua panel that cited Lopez for contempt during Wednesday's inquiry on the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds under offices controlled by Vice President Duterte.
Lopez was ordered detained within the House until Monday, Nov. 25 as penalty for the contempt citation.