EDITORIAL - House sleep-in

What would happen if a member of the House of Representatives visited the Office of the Vice President, and then decided to stay in the premises overnight, without bothering to seek permission from the OVP?

The congressman will likely be asked to leave the premises, for security reasons, and also because government buildings are not supposed to be used as private accommodations. The OVP may see the incident as a provocative intrusion and a show of disrespect to the second highest official of the land.

Vice President Sara Duterte may want to consider this as she ignores House rules on visiting hours and shows her scorn for the chamber over its latest move that she says is part of a dry run for her impeachment: the detention for contempt of her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez at the Batasang Pambansa complex until Nov. 25.

Lopez was cited in contempt after she confirmed signing a letter asking the Commission on Audit to ignore a subpoena from the House, which demanded audit reports on the use of confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 by the OVP and the Department of Education when it was under Duterte.

The Vice President visited Lopez in detention at 8 p.m. on Thursday. When told that she could not stay overnight in the detention facility, Duterte then spent the night in the Batasan office of her brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, who notified the chamber that he had given his sister permission to use his office. Yesterday, the House committee on good government and public accountability rejected a request from the Vice President to join Lopez in detention. Panel chairman Joel Chua explained that Duterte is not a detainee.

It’s not the first time that Duterte has ignored House rules. The one time that she faced the committee to defend the OVP budget proposal, she refused to be sworn in, saying she was invited not as a witness but as a resource person. Congressmen stressed that taking the oath signified a commitment to tell the truth, which was required of both witnesses and resource persons.

As of last night, Duterte remained holed out in her brother’s Batasan office, prompting a lockdown at the House and the deployment of two truckloads of police officers around the complex. Duterte has informed the House that she intends to keep Lopez company throughout the detention.

It’s an act of protest and part of an effort to avoid accountability in the utilization of hundreds of millions in confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd. It is also the latest indication how the Vice President and her relatives hold themselves above the law and institutional rules. Unless dealt with decisively, this disrespect for Congress will set a precedent that could encourage similar acts.