Vice President Sara Duterte completely entrusted the handling and disbursement of her office’s P500 million confidential funds to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, who is not an employee of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), according to testimonies by two top aides before the Impeachment Court.
Under questioning by Senator-Judge Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, OVP Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio said that Lachica is not an employee of Duterte’s office.
“Colonel Lachica is the group commander of the VPSPG (Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group) and he is not an employee of the OVP, but he has an order coming from the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) designating him as the group commander,” Ortonio testified under oath.
Previously, OVP Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta testified that Lachica was the only person who doled out cash to informants,
In his intervention, Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked Ortonio who in the OVP was knowledgeable about how the confidential funds were spent.
“So sa loob ng opisina ng OVP, si VP Sara, head of agency lang ang nakakaalam. Ikaw bilang Assistant Chief of Staff, yung Chief of Staff mismo, walang alam. At si Colonel Lachica na, ayon sa katanungan ni Senator-Judge Sotto kanina lang, na hindi naman bahagi ng opisina ng OVP,” Escudero said.
To which Ortonio replied, “Yes, Your Honor.”
Meanwhile, under cross-examination by defense counsel Atty. Kristine Ferrer, Ortonio admitted that he has not met any of the confidential informants of the OVP as they only liaise with Lachica because the identity of the informants is classified.
During previous questioning by Escudero, Acosta also testified that Lachica was the one who made payments to informants who used unusual aliases as seen in acknowledgment receipts that bore unusual names like “Timon Andrew Pusa,” “Chippy McDonald,” “Jay Kamote,” and “Mary Grace Piattos.”
Ortonio has previously testified that these payments were made directly to informants and agents who supposedly used it to buy medicines, food and other supplies, which is one reason why the OVP does not have receipts for these purchases.
“Based on the information that was provided to me by the security officer, payments were directly made to the informants and agents,” Ortonio testified.
The P500 million in confidential funds released to the OVP in 2022 and 2023 forms part of the P612.5 million in confidential funds of the OVP and Department of Education being scrutinized under Article I of the impeachment complaint against Duterte. ||
