MANILA – The House of Representatives has released Office of the Vice President (OVP) Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez from its custody after over a week of detention due to a contempt order.
The release order was signed by Manila’s Cong. Joel Chua, chairperson of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, on Saturday evening.
“In view of the undertaking to attend all hearings, you are hereby ordered to immediately release Atty. Zuleika T. Lopez after a medical examination has been conducted on her,” stated in the release order.
Lopez has been confined at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center since November 23 after she fell ill following the panel’s decision to remove her from the House detention facility and transfer her to the Correctional Institution for Women.
The detention of Lopez was supposed to expire on November 25, but ACT Teachers party-list’s Cong. France Castro motioned to extend it until November 30.
Lopez was ordered detained on November 20 after she was cited in contempt for her supposed “undue interference” and “evasive answers” in the panel’s investigation into the confidential funds of the offices held by Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.
She previously told the committee that she had no knowledge of how the OVP utilized its confidential funds, saying her role in the OVP is only to oversee the institutionalization and implementation of all the socioeconomic projects of the office.
Last week, Duterte-Carpio said Lopez had stated her intention to resign and that the latter wanted to be with her family./PN
