Senate impeachment court serves subpoena to Duterte aide Zuleika Lopez

The Senate impeachment court on Thursday served a subpoena ad testificandum on Vice President Sara Duterte’s chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, requiring her to testify before the tribunal next week.

The subpoena, issued at the request of the House prosecution panel, directs Lopez to appear before the impeachment court on July 13 and 14 as proceedings tackle Duterte’s alleged assassination plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

“You are hereby commanded to appear on July 13 and 14, 2026 at 2 p.m., before the Senate Impeachment Court… to testify your knowledge in the case which is before the Court in which the House of Representatives has impeached Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte. Fail not,” the subpoena to Lopez read.

Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol said the subpoena was “officially served and successfully received” by the Office of the Vice President at 1:10 p.m. Thursday.

The testimony sought from Lopez relates to an online press briefing in November 2024, during which Duterte pucblicly spoke of the alleged assassination plot. In the same briefing, Lopez claimed she had received “threats to [her] life” while she was being detained by the House of Representatives.

Lopez was previously cited in contempt by the House committee on good government and public accountability for alleged undue interference during its hearings on Duterte’s impeachment.

-Paraluman News