00:00The Chief of Staff of Vice President Sara Duterte is now detained after being cited in contempt
00:07for interfering in the work of the Camera and for avoiding questions.
00:12In the statement of the Vice President that she is being accused of interfering in her work because she interfered in politics,
00:18Speaker Martin Romulez accused her of facing the committee herself and answering questions about her confidential funds.
00:30Ian Cruz was found guilty.
00:35Because of interfering in the work of the Camera,
00:40the House Committee on Good Government and Accountability condemned the Chief of Staff of Vice President Sara Duterte,
00:47Atty. Zuleika Lopez.
00:49This is because she wrote to the Commission on Audit not to follow the orders of the Camera
00:54to submit its audit report on the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President.
01:01I'm sorry Atty. Lopez because you are the one who signed this.
01:05And according to our rule, one of the reasons is the undue interference in the conduct of proceedings.
01:16So may I move Mr. Chairs that Atty. Lopez violated our proceedings or our work.
01:25May I move to cite Atty. Lopez in contempt, Mr. Chair.
01:30Ms. Lopez asked to consider returning to the contempt order against her.
01:35For the record, it was just a respectful request to the Commission on Audit.
01:43There was no intention, Your Honor, to demand from them or to order them or to commandeer them into something that they did not want to do.
01:53Ms. Lopez stopped complaining but the contempt citation remained because of her avoidance of the questions.
02:00Ms. Lopez is currently in detention at the House Detention Center.
02:04In one statement, the OVP said that Ms. Lopez was asked not to issue a statement regarding her detention.
02:13The OVP's four officials did not respond to the committee's request to answer questions
02:19regarding the alleged acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP and the Department of Education in Coa
02:27regarding Google's use of confidential funds.
02:30Ms. Duterte said that the biggest challenge she is facing now is the interference of her people in the involvement of her opponents in politics.
02:41I am disappointed because, as I said, even though I am a politician,
02:45politicians should not use their names because there is a race.
02:51So, for the opponents to have an advantage, they should have some competence in politics.
03:00In an interview, Speaker Martin Robaldes said that instead of his witnesses,
03:06the vice president should face the committee and explain regarding the use of his confidential funds.
03:13He should submit an oath and speak and explain because all of his officials know what's happening in the funds.
03:28He should speak and not give it to the OVP's officials. He should speak. That's all.
03:37For GMA Integrated News, Ian Cruz.
03:39For 24 Hours, we are trying to get the answer of Vice President Sara Duterte regarding what Robaldes said,
03:50but we are still waiting for the answer.
03:58For GMA Integrated News, I am Ian Cruz.
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