Vice President Sara Duterte personally sought P125 million in confidential funds in 2022, after succeeding Leni Robredo, whose six-year term had no confidential fund allocation, an official of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) testified before the Impeachment Court on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Presented by the prosecution as a hostile witness, OVP Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio confirmed the Vice President’s signature in a letter in August 2022 to the Office of the President and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) where among the funds requested are confidential funds worth P125 million.
Ortonio also admitted that the “specific figure” requested was determined by the Vice President herself and did not originate from routine administrative assessments, or from proposals by the budget division or administrative units.
Upon questioning by prosecution counsel Atty. Mae Divinagracia, Ortonio confirmed that the same P125 million were fully disbursed and spent in a span of 11 days, from December 21 to 31, 2022, based on the official liquidation report.
Ortonio also told the Court that as far as he knew, Duterte’s predecessor, former Vice President and now Naga Mayor Leni Robredo did not have any confidential funds at her disposal.
Robredo served as Vice President until June 30, 2022.
Ortonio is testifying before the Impeachment Court as a hostile witness as declared by Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero after asking if he stood to lose his job at the OVP if Duterte is removed from office.
“It has been established that Ortonio serves at the pleasure of the Vice President, and has been working for her for quite some time and is serving up to now—and that if the Vice President is impeached and therefore removed from office, pati kayo matatanggal,” Escudero ruled.
The ruling allowed prosecutors to ask leading questions to Ortonio, making him the second OVP official to receive hostile witness status in the trial after former Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta.
Ortonio’s connection with Duterte goes way back to her days as Davao City mayor, during which he served as chief of the Davao City Investment and Promotion Center, head of the local government’s Human Resource Management Office
Ortonio and Acosta are among the witnesses the prosecution presented to prove its claims under Article I of the Articles of Impeachment that charges Vice President Duterte with high crimes, graft, and betrayal of public trust over the alleged systematic misuse, irregular disbursement, and improper liquidation of P612.5 million in confidential funds across the OVP and the Department of Education. ||
