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Atty. Zuleika Lopez, the chief of staff of Vice President Sara Duterte, attends the resumption of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability inquiry into the alleged misuse of public funds by the OVP and the DepEd under Duterte. Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News

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Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1732099672186Gcy57sObcAMhs-O.jpeg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Atty. Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff of Vice President Sara Duterte, attends the resumption of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability inquiry into the alleged misuse of public funds by the OVP and the DepEd under Duterte. Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff at the Office of the Vice President, said Wednesday that she asked <span id="isPasted" style="caret-color:rgb(65, 65, 65);color:rgb(65, 65, 65)">former Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Gloria Mercado and three other DepEd officials to resign after </span>Vice President Sara Duterte instructed her to.</p><p>Lopez made the revelation when asked by Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro d<span id="isPasted" style="caret-color:rgb(65, 65, 65);color:rgb(65, 65, 65)">uring the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearing on Wednesday.</span></p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/20/ovp-chief-of-staff-confirms-letter-asking-coa-to-not-submit-audit-documents-1755">• OVP chief of staff confirms letter asking COA to not submit documents on confidential funds audit</a></div><p>&quot;I was instructed by the Vice President to call Mercado and tell her that the principal has lost her trust and confidence in her,&quot; she said, adding what had happened was an isolated incident.</p><p>&quot;Ginagawa ko lang trabaho ko (I was just doing my job) because the Vice President was also the Secretary of Education,&quot; she said. </p><p>She said Duterte had her do it instead of then DepEd chief of staff Michael Poa &quot;to prevent friction among senior officials in the DepEd.&quot;</p><p>Poa resigned from DepEd in July to allow incoming Education Secretary Sonny Angara to pick and appoint his own staff.</p><p>Poa has also since left the OVP. </p><div><strong>MERCADO&#x27;S RESIGNATION</strong></div><p>In the September 25 hearing, Mercado told lawmakers she was asked to resign in 2023 after she refused to allow negotiated procurrement for the DepEd Computerization Program. </p><p>She said that she asserted procurement for the program must be &quot;implemented and conducted in strict adherence with the rules&quot;. </p><p>Mercado also testified that she was asked to resign without formal complaints or hearings. </p><p>This was confirmed by Lopez during the interpellation of Luistro. </p><p>“You will agree with me that this is a very serious thing, asking somebody to resign — somebody who has rendered service in the government for more than 30 years already. Tama po ba?” the Batangas congresswoman said. </p><p>Lopez reiterated Mercado was asked to resign on the basis of &quot;loss of trust and confidence&quot;, adding she told the then undersecretary that she  &quot;was not the person she was to talk to because I am not part of DepEd.&quot; </p><p>Luistro pointed out that Lopez had told Mercado to resign on the instruction of their principal but that when &quot;Mercado [was] trying to explain herself, you [told] her that you do not belong to DepEd.”</p><p>The OVP official later confirmed that three other DepEd officials were asked to resign upon Duterte&#x27;s orders for the same reason.</p><p>Lopez said those officials were Undersecretary Kris Ablan, Assistant Secretary Christopher Lawrence Arnuco, and Undersecretary Jose Arturo “Brady” de Castro. </p><p>She said all were asked to resign due to “loss of trust and confidence.&quot; </p><p>“You said that this is an isolated occasion. Now, you admit that there are five other DepEd officials whom you advised to resign. Do you honestly believe na kung anim na sila, isolated pa ‘yan (if there are six cases, that is still isolated)?” Luistro asked. </p><p>“What happened to [Undersecretary] Mercado happened also to these three other DepEd officials… Therefore, what you did to them is constructive dismissal,” she added.</p><p>Constructive dismissal is when an employee resigns due to unbearable working conditions that leave them no choice but to leave.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W8vnznV6eSY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Lopez maintained she was only doing her job as instructed by the Vice President, who was DepEd Secretary at that time. </p>

Lopez maintained she was only doing her job as instructed by the Vice President, who was DepEd Secretary at that time.

OVP chief-of-staff confirms Duterte had her tell 4 ex-DepEd staff to quit

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OVP chief-of-staff confirms Duterte had her tell 4 ex-DepEd staff to quit

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published November 20, 2024 07:35 PM PHT

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