SENATE Presiding Officer Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero gavels the Senate impeachment court into session for Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial Also shown is Senate President Win Gatchalian.
The Senate impeachment court will strictly prohibit witnesses from using any telecommunication device after rumors went viral online that a close aide to Vice President Sara Duterte wore an earpiece allegedly for coaching purposes during his testimony regarding confidential funds last week.
Presiding officer Chiz Escudero dismissed the speculations on Tuesday as “false,” declaring that the widely circulated social media photos showing hostile witness Lemuel Ortonio with an earpiece are actually “AI-generated.”
“The image is not part of the record and does not establish that he wore such a device or received outside assistance. The chair therefore makes no finding against him,” Escudero remarked at the outset of the 20th day of the impeachment trial.
Instead, he said that the supposed object on Ortonio's ear was a front-fold helix ear piercing.
He, however, acknowledged that the controversy highlights the need for the impeachment court to enforce strict safeguards to prevent witnesses from being tampered with or coached by receiving any communication, answer, signal, prompt, or assistance from any person inside and outside the courtroom while the trial is ongoing.
As a result, any person standing on the witness stand will be barred from possessing, wearing, accessing, or using any cellphone, smartwatch, earpiece, headset, smart glasses, or other device capable of transmitting or receiving communications.
The clerk of court was directed to secure prohibited devices before the witness was sworn and to obtain the witness’s confirmation of compliance on the record.
“The court need not wait for actual coaching to occur. Once testimony is compromised, the harm to the truth-seeking process may be impossible to cure. A clear preventive rule is therefore necessary,” Escudero contended.
A witness will also be barred from discussing the substance of his or her testimony with any person during a break or recess.
Any necessary medical, accessibility, interpretation, or evidentiary device, and any consultation unrelated to the substance of the testimony shall require the prior approval of the court’s presiding officer.
Violators of the said orders will face contempt and disciplinary actions from the impeachment court.
Ortonio appeared before the impeachment court on 25 and 26 August as a hostile witness for the prosecution.
Ortonio is not only the Assistant Chief of Staff of the Office of the Vice President (OVP). He is also in charge of the OVP’s Strategy Management Office, which oversees the agency’s budget.
Ortonio was instrumental in processing the P500 million in confidential funds allocated to OVP from December 2022 to mid-2023, 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 secret funds in four tranches of P125 million each from LandBank Shaw Branch and storing them in gym bags.
Acosta earlier told the impeachment court that she handed over the bags to the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group Commander, Col. Raymund Lachica, but Ortinio denied any knowledge of such an arrangement.
Acosta said no official receipts were submitted to her by Lachica aside from acknowledgment receipts, which mostly comprised “fictitious” names as alleged by the prosecution.
Ortonio admitted that the encashment and payment of confidential funds were made upon his authorization, though he noted that it was part of the duty vested in him by Duterte.
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.
