ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider VP Duterte finally leaves House; gets slammed for 'alarming acts of defiance'

VP Duterte finally leaves House; gets slammed for 'alarming acts of defiance'

Published Nov 22, 2024 11:19 pm

At A Glance

  • Vice President Sara Duterte left the House of Representatives at 3:01 a.m. Saturday, as she accompanied her chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City for a medical check-up.

Screenshot_20241123_070251_Viber.jpgVice President Sara Duterte (center) accompanies her Chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez (on stretcher) inside and ambulance (Screenshot from contributed video)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vice President Sara Duterte left the House of Representatives at 3:01 a.m. Saturday, as she accompanied her chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City for a medical check-up.

This seemingly put an end to Duterte’s unauthorized stay at the House in Batasan, Quezon City, which began at 11:30 p.m. Thursday when she refused to leave the premises despite pleas from Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas for her to do so.

A video acquired by the Manila Bulletin showed Lopez being carried out on a stretcher into a Philippine National Police (PNP) ambulance. 

Vice President Duterte was seen boarding the ambulance shortly, accompanying her aide to the very end.

Screenshot_20241123_065047_Viber.jpgOVP Chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez gets served her transfer order to the Women’s Correctional Facility (Screenshot from contributed video)

 

A few hours earlier, Legislative Security Bureau (LSB) Executive Director and retired Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Captain Belinda “Belle” Bello served the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability's order to transfer Lopez from the House detention facility to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City.

Lopez had been under House custody since late Wednesday night Nov. 20, after she was cited for contempt during a hearing by the good government panel. 

Taas would later confim the action taken by the LSB on Lopez.

"The House Committee on Good Government and Publilc Accountabilily, chaired by Rep. Joel R. Chua, has resolved to transfer Atty. Zuleika T. Lopez, Undersecretary and Chief-of-Staff of the Ofice of the Vice President, to the Women's Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City," he said in a press conference shortly after the ambulance left the House.

 

'Alarming acts of defiance'

He went on to criticize Duterte for "directly obstructing" Lopez's transfer order.

CHECK THIS OUT:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/11/22/t-imeline-vp-sara-s-unannounced-stay-at-house-of-representatives

 

"The execution of this lawful order was directly obstructed by Vice President Sara Duterte, who took the extraordinary step of introducing herself as Atty. Lopez's legal counsel and physically intervening to prevent the service of the transfer order.

"This act of interference demonstrates a blatant disregard for institutional authority and due process, seting a dangerous precedent for abuse of power," Taas said. 

According to Taas, Duterte "escalated the situation by overstaying her visit and ignoring repeated directives from the Sergeant-at-Arms to leave the premises. She then locked herself inside the office of Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, prompting a lockdown of the entire House premises."

Taas also said Duterte "[compromised] protocols by bringing an excessive and unauthorized armed presence into the complex".

There is a strict no fireeam policy inside the House, something that even congressmen adhere to.

"These alarming acts of defiance by Vice President Duterte severely undermined the authority of the House and disrupted its operations," Taas said.

Related Tags

House of Representatives Sara Duterte Zuleika Lopez
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.