IBP to stay 'non-political' on Zuleika Lopez contempt and detention order

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IBP to stay 'non-political' on Zuleika Lopez contempt and detention order

ABS-CBN News

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Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/FileJonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — The Integrated Bar of the Philippines will not get involved in the controversy surrounding the contempt citation and detention by the House of Vice President Sara Duterte's chief of staff, saying it is obliged to be non-political.

The national organization of lawyers said that while Zuleika Lopez is a lawyer, that was not why she was invited to testify before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, which eventually cited her for contempt and ordered her detention.

According to a statement by IBP national president Antonio Pido issued "with the consent" of its Board of Governors, IBP took the position that it is not obliged "to take a stand, either for or against, the contempt and detention order" against Lopez.

In fact, Pido said, the IBP is prohibited from engaging in partisan politics and from statements and actions "that tends to favor a political party or political group."

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IBP did not say what prompted the statement, but former Duterte spokesperson Harry Roque challenged the organization last week to take a stand on Lopez's detention.

"My IBP, why are you so quiet [on] what's happening to one of us?" Roque, who has been calling on people to troop to EDSA in support of Vice President Duterte and her chief of staff, said.

The IBP has, in the past, issued statements regarding lawyers' safety and security, including calling for swift action on the killings of lawyers.

'LAWYERS KNOW WHAT REMEDIES ARE AVAILABLE'

In its statement, the IBP said its taking a stand on the contempt and detention order would be seen as a political action that "tends to impair the basic feature of the IBP as a non-political organization."

It stressed that Lopez was at the House hearings "because of her being the Chief of Staff of a national political figure" and not simply because she is a lawyer.

It added that Supreme Court has already issued decisions on the rights of resource persons at congressional hearings and "all lawyers are presumed to know these Supreme Court decisions because these form the law of the land."

Lawyers who want to help Lopez or any other individual whom congressional committees have cited for contempt and ordered detained are "presumed to know the legal remedies available to that individual", which they can pursue on their own, the IBP said. 

— Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News


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