A lawmaker has urged Vice President Sara Duterte to heed the advice of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, to exit politics as soon as possible.
“We strongly urge the Vice President to listen to her father’s counsel to step away from politics before it’s too late,” House Minority Leader Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan said on Sunday.
He then described the younger Duterte as lacking “both the gumption and the grace required of a national leader.”
“She is clearly unlike her father. It would appear that she makes crucial judgments and issues utterly reckless pronouncements without any preparation or thoughtful consideration,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Ronald dela Rosa came to the defense of the Vice President amid the backlash over her outburst against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family.
He explained that Duterte was only “human” and had been pushed to a breaking point due to political persecution.
“If you were in her situation, could you stomach the persecution against her? Is it unbecoming if her reaction was merely natural, as a human being who is angry and hurt?” Dela Rosa said.
He added that the Vice President was simply showing her human side during her recent publicized meltdown.
“It is up to the people how they perceive a person’s anger. But I guarantee you, Inday Sara is a genuine person, not plastic, who has emotions also,” he further stressed.
On the other hand, Dela Rosa questioned the move by the House of Representatives to transfer Duterte’s chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, from the chamber’s detention facility to the Women’s Correctional Facility.
“But what I commented on is that it’s not right for a person who was only cited in contempt during a hearing in the House of Representatives to be immediately sent to the Women’s Correctional Facility, which is a place for convicted criminals serving sentences. This person has not yet been convicted,” Dela Rosa said.
The senator is studying what actions he can take regarding the Vice President’s situation, but noted: “We observe inter-parliamentary courtesy.”
Lopez has been held at the House detention facility since Wednesday night after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability cited her for contempt due to her allegedly evasive responses during the panel’s legislative inquiry into the alleged misuse of confidential funds by agencies under VP Duterte on 20 November.
Lopez was taken to the hospital early Saturday morning after reports of vomiting and collapsing, following the House panel’s order for her transfer.
She was initially brought to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Makati City, but the House of Representatives ordered the police to transport her to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).
Duterte, in a chance interview on Sunday, lamented Lopez’s desire to resign from her post due to being “deeply traumatized” in the detention facility at the House of Representatives.
“She told me: ‘I want to resign. I want to resign from the Office of the Vice President,’ and I told her, ‘Okay.’ She told me, ‘I want to go home to my mother.’ She will just finish the hearings,” Duterte told reporters.
In a media briefing on Sunday, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro, who moved the motion to cite Lopez in contempt, said the House will still invite OVP officials to their hearings even if Lopez resigns.
“Even if she resigns, she still has to appear before the committee. It’s her personal decision to resign. Even if she resigns, Congress can still summon her,” Castro said.
Castro added that the House contempt order against Lopez is valid only until Monday, 25 November. “Attorney Lopez’s contempt will only last until tomorrow. If the committee members don’t ask any more questions, she can go home,” she said.
According to Duterte, Lopez has not calmed down yet. She said Lopez insisted her lawyers remain outside her hospital room 24 hours a day and has also requested a daily meeting with them.
“She woke up several times in the night and had three dreams of someone smothering her with a pillow. No appetite, she ate fruit so she could take her medicine,” she said.
Duterte shared that Lopez has “allowed” her to leave VMMC, while Senators Dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go will stay “for the meantime” while she’s not around.
“She allowed me to go see my children so long as Senator “Bong” Go will replace me and that I come back in the evening,” she said.
Hours after the Vice President left to visit her children, Senator Imee Marcos, the President’s eldest sister, arrived via helicopter at the VMMC where Lopez is being confined.