Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio said all the steps he undertook in relation to confidential funds, including his responses to notices from the Commission on Audit, were known to and authorized by Vice President Sara Duterte.
Ortonio, testifying as a hostile witness for the prosecution in Duterte’s impeachment trial, said he did not do anything without Duterte’s clearance.
He made the statement upon questioning by Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero, who asked whether Duterte knew about, authorized, and supervised all matters related to the confidential funds.
These included requesting the funds from the Department of Budget and Management, spending and liquidating them, and responding to the notices from the Commission on Audit flagging their use.
“Based on my understanding and based on what I know, sir, yes, the Vice President knows about the confidential activities and how it is being implemented,” Ortonio said.
Pressing the point, Escudero asked if Ortonio undertook any action related to the confidential funds that Duterte did not know about or authorize.
“None, your honor,” he said.
Escudero further asked, “Lahat alam niya at inauthorize niya?”
Ortonio answered in the affirmative.
It was Ortonio who prepared the response to the COA when it questioned the use of Duterte’s confidential funds.
Earlier in the day, he testified that Duterte’s office requested P250 million in confidential funds in August 2022 from the DBM and sent the request without an attached Physical and Financial Plan (PFP) that would outline how her office would use the funds.
The PFP is a requirement to support all confidential fund requests, as per Joint Circular 2015-01 on confidential fund use.
The OVP submitted the PFP a month later, Ortonio said.
Duterte was given P125 million in December 2022 and he confirmed that it was spent in 11 days the same month.
Escudero asked why the OVP had to spend all the funds in that period, and Ortonio replied that it was because the fund request was made for that specific year.
The witness also acknowledged that any unused funds by the end of the year would have to be returned to the National Treasury.
The OVP was also given P125 million every quarter for the first three quarters of 2023.
During questioning by private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia, Ortonio confirmed, based on the documents, that the OVP spent P16 million each for safehouse rental and maintenance in December 2022 and the first and second quarters of 2023.
This was despite the different durations of the use of the safehouses.
Divinagracia also noted that the payment of incentives or traveling related to confidential operations was the same across the different quarters.