A top aide to Vice President Sara Duterte told the impeachment court Tuesday that the Office of the Vice President requested P250 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) in 2022, even before the agency had formulated the list of projects for which the secret expenditures would be used. 

OVP Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio admitted during a direct examination of private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia that the only document attached to the agency’s letter to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was a written explanation of the OVP’s need for CIF.

Divinagracia pointed out that the OVP only “committed” in the letter to formulating programs, projects, and activities relevant to national security and peace and order, which contradicts standard procedure.

The letter, dated 22 August 2022 and signed by Duterte, showed that the OVP initially requested P250 million in CIF, but the DBM approved only P125 million and released it on 13 December of that year.

“The determination for the amount was [at] the discretion of the Vice President,” said Ortonio, the second hostile witness.

The P125 million was sourced from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s contingency funds, with several opposition lawmakers deriding the transfer as unconstitutional since there was no line item for such in the 2022 General Appropriations Act.

The amount also represents the first tranche of the P500 million in total CIF received by Duterte’s office from December 2022 to mid-2023. The OVP utilized the P125 million from 21 to 31 December, a period of roughly 11 days.

Of the sum, P73.3 million in confidential expenses was disallowed by the Commission on Audit due to a lack of relevant documents proving that the funds were used for information-gathering or surveillance activities for which the funds were intended.

Divinagracia questioned how the OVP arrived at a request for such a hefty amount without projections or physical and financial plans to justify the confidential expenses, given that Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2015-0 mandates that all CIF allocations must be supported by a physical and financial plan.

“In fact, there [were] no attachments supporting the OVP’s request for confidential funds,” Divinagracia pointed out.

The prosecutor also questioned the lack of any computation breaking down the possible expenses for CIF in the request letter, to which Ortonio replied, “That’s correct. No computation.” 

Later in the trial, it was established that the OVP provided a physical and financial plan to the DBM only on 19 September 2022, almost one month after the initial request.

Ortonio insisted that he had no hand in preparing the OVP’s physical and financial plan.

The letter in question outlined that the OVP intends to use the CIF for the safe implementation of various activities and programs under the agency’s “Good Governance Program and for the official engagements and functions of representation in the international and domestic events as instructed by the Vice President.” 

Duterte’s request for CIF came two months after she assumed the second-highest office. Ortonio acknowledged that the OVP utilized the P125 million in mere 11 days because any unspent funds at the end of the fiscal year will be returned to the National Treasury.

Ortonio was instrumental in processing the CIF, though he denied knowledge of its actual use on the ground. 

He accompanied OVP Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta—also a hostile witness—in encashing the CIF in four tranches from LandBank Shaw Branch and stored the same in gym bags. 

Acosta earlier confirmed that she released P125 million worth of CIF in four tranches to the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group Commander, Col. Raymund Lachica, the sole implementer responsible for overseeing ground operations.

Acosta earlier told the impeachment court that no official receipts were submitted to her by Lachica aside from acknowledgment receipts, which mostly comprised “fictitious” names as alleged by the prosecution. 

Ortonio said the encashment and payment of CIF from late 2022 to 2023 were made upon his authorization, though he noted that it was part of the duty vested in him by Duterte. 

Ortonio provides overall supervision for the internal affairs of the OVP. This includes administrative and financial services, as well as the strategy management office responsible for overseeing the agency’s budget. 

Like Acosta, Ortonio was a longtime aide to Duterte. He worked as her chief of staff when Duterte was still the vice mayor of Davao City in 2008, and later as mayor from 2010 to 2013. 

Both Acosta and Ortonio joined the OVP in June 2022 after Duterte won the vice presidential race.