Abuse of power and attack on dignity

The four-member committee’s citation of contempt against lawyer Zuleika Lopez, Vice President Sara Duterte’s chief of staff in the Office of the Vice President (OVP), is an excessive use of the contempt power granted to Congress by the Constitution.

Poorly placed and weak

The basis for imposing a five-day custodial sentence in the custody of the House of Representatives was a letter from Lopez to the Committee on Audit, in which he asked the latter to withhold the publication of certain audit reports relating to confidential OVP expenditures in 2022 and 2023, which had been requested by legislative committee on the ground that the COA has not yet made a final decision on the matter covered by the notice of denial issued by it to the OVP. Lopez argued that the premature release of the audit reports would violate the OVP’s right to a fair hearing, in addition to potentially violating the principle of separation of powers.

According to the investigative committee, the letter sent by Under Secretary Lopez constituted an “unwarranted interference” with the authority of the congressional body to conduct investigations in support of legislation. The basis on which the five-day detention of Vice President Sara’s chief of staff is based is flawed because it is uncertain.

Lopez’s letter did not prevent the commission from conducting its investigation. The announcement did not prevent the Audit Committee from complying with the subpoena, nor did the four-member committee obtain the requested documents. So where is the undue interference with a congressional committee’s authority to conduct an investigation?

It is more appropriate to conclude that the contemptuous admonishment of Under Secretary Lopez constituted interference and a violation of the due process requirement to which the Office of the Vice President is entitled in the matter under investigation.

Given that the legislative committee has been overly generous in the use of its contempt power, it is inevitable that its action will be seen as targeting Vice President Sara’s hapless staff and that she will be punished for failing to force her immediate superior to attend the committee hearings.

COA Exclusive Powers

OVP cannot be the subject of an investigation by a legislative body in a matter that is the subject of an investigation by a constitutional commission appointed to examine the regularity and legality of spending public funds.

To authorize such an undertaking amounts to a violation of the exclusive “powers, powers and duties” of the Audit Committee under Art. IX section 2 section 1 of the Constitution to “investigate, audit and settle all accounts relating to the revenues and receipts, expenditures or utilization of funds and property owned or entrusted to or relating to the Government or any of its departments, agencies or instrumentalities, including corporations owned or controlled, xxx “

Abuse of power

Ordering the transfer of Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez from the House of Representatives custody to the Women’s Correctional Facility, a detention center for convicted and criminal suspects facing trial, is a clear abuse of power.

The enforcement of such an order in the middle of the night, pending the outcome of a motion to reconsider a contemptuous citation, is a brazen and naked attack on the dignity of the person of Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez.

She is a lawyer, judicial officer and respected member of the Integrated Bar Association of the Philippines.

He has not been convicted or suspected of committing a crime, nor has he been charged with a crime. She is a woman of good reputation.

Appearing at the four-member committee hearing, she was the epitome of decency, using respectful language and ethical conduct. She answered questions from committee members in a clear and non-evasive manner.

However, she was treated rudely and brutally and deprived of her rights. While she was alone in custody, her privacy was invaded, harassed by House and uniformed staff who tried to force her out of custody at ungodly hours, frightening her and causing her to have fits of hysteria as her frail body gave out. vomiting several times and finally passing out.

She was taken to hospital, where she currently remains a nervous wreck, traumatized by the terrible ordeals she went through.

He screams in pain, “Wala ng batas dito sa bansang ito!” (There is no law in this country anymore!)