Sara’s long-time aide. OVP Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio appears in the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, 25 August as hostile witness.
Aram Lascano for the Daily Tribune
A P150,000 discrepancy in the Office of the Vice President’s confidential fund records was traced to expenses an official said he had paid from his own pocket and was never reimbursed for, testimony at Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial showed on Tuesday.
Lemuel Ortonio, the OVP's assistant chief of staff, testified that he gave the money to special disbursing officer Gina Acosta after she approached him about an urgent request from then-OVP security officer Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
"Unfortunately ma'am, I was not reimbursed anymore," Ortonio told House private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia when asked whether he eventually got the money back.
The payment later appeared in the OVP's accounting records as part of its confidential fund expenses, but Ortonio said the money had come from his own pocket and was never recorded as such in the agency's records.
The testimony focused on a P150,000 discrepancy flagged by the Commission on Audit in the OVP's liquidation of P125 million in confidential funds.
The OVP's accomplishment report listed P125 million in expenses, while the supporting documents totaled P125.15 million, Ortonio acknowledged.
"Yes, ma'am. That's correct," he said when Divinagracia asked whether the figures did not match.
Ortonio was among the OVP officials who signed a 13 March 2024 response to COA's notice of suspension. That initial response attributed the P150,000 difference to receipts that may have been "inadvertently mixed" into the documents.
But nine days later, the OVP sent COA a supplemental reply providing a different explanation.
"The reconciliation shows that an amount of P50,000 under payment of reward and an amount of P100,000 under purchase of supplies were provided by Assistant Secretary Lemuel G. Ortonio out of his personal funds," the supplemental reply said.
Ortonio said Acosta had approached him about the request because of its urgency. He said he handed over the cash without asking for a receipt.
“At the time, because of the urgency and dahil humingi ng tulong si Ms. Gina sa akin, I provided her with the request,” Ortonio testified. He also said the arrangement was not common at the OVP.
Divinagracia pressed Ortonio on why the personal payment was not disclosed in the first response to COA and only appeared in the supplemental reply nine days later.
Ortonio said he first had to confirm the details with Acosta before providing the explanation to auditors. "So we needed to make a reply. So we sent an initial reply and submitted a supplemental reply," he said.
He said the supplemental response was intended to ensure that the OVP provided COA with the proper information.
Ortonio agreed that there was no allotment at the time for the OVP to base an obligation for the confidential funds and that no certification of availability of funds had yet been issued.
He also acknowledged that under the rules governing confidential and intelligence funds, cash advances should precede the expenses they cover and should not simply be used to reimburse expenses already incurred.
The P150,000 discrepancy arose because the OVP reported P125 million in expenses while its supporting documents totaled P125.15 million, according to the trial testimony. The supplemental response attributed P50,000 of the difference to rewards and P100,000 to supplies.
Authorization question
Impeachment Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero on later pressed Ortonio over how much Duterte knew about the handling of her office’s confidential funds, after the witness said she was aware of the activities and how they were carried out.
He pointed to the OVP’s responses to auditors, including its replies to audit observation memoranda, notices of suspension and notices of disallowance.
Ortonio agreed that Duterte knew about the confidential activities and their implementation.
“Based on my understanding and based on what I know, yes the VP knows about the confidential activities and how it is being implemented.”
Escudero then asked whether Ortonio knew of anything done by former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta or former security official Col. Raymund Dante Lachica involving the confidential funds—from disbursement and withdrawal through spending and liquidation—that Duterte did not know about or authorize.
“As to Ms. Gina and Colonel Lachica, Your Honor, I would have no personal knowledge on it,” Ortonio replied.###
