A group of Quezon City trial lawyers has taken up the cudgel for the embattled lawyer Zuleika T. Lopez, who had been cited in contempt and ordered detained by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability for “interference.”
In its statement, the Quezon City Trial Lawyers League, Inc. assailed the House committee for “blatant disregard of the constitutionally enshrined rights to due process and presumption of innocence” of Lopez.
It said that Lopez sought a reconsideration of the contempt citation but her motion remained unacted upon by the House committee.
Lopez, an undersecretary at the Office of the Vice President (OVP), was cited in contempt last Nov. 20, detained at the House of Representatives, and later ordered her transfer to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).
“Such persecution made under the guise of lawful exercise of legislative power resulted in the confinement of Atty. Lopez in Veterans Memorial Medical Center,” it said.
In citing Lopez in contempt, the House committee pointed out the Aug. 21, 2024 letter sent by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (COA) requesting the audit agency to disregard a congressional subpoena for the production of audit reports on the OVP’s confidential expenses in the years 2022 and 2023.
The contempt citation was premised on alleged violation of Section 11 (f) of the House of Representatives Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation which provides, as a ground for contempt, undue interference in the conduct of proceedings therein.
Also, the House Committee cited Lopez’s alleged evasive answers during the probe.
In its statement, the lawyers’ group said “the acts undertaken by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability against Atty. Lopez are patently tantamount to grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”
The Philippines: Lawyers’ group seeks due process for detained OVP Usec Zuleika Lopez
