Ortonio: OVP used P88M confi funds for safehouses, incentives, travelling

The office of Vice President Sara Duterte spent P48 million of its confidential funds in 130 days for rental of safe houses and P40 million for incentives and travelling expenses, OVP Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio said.

Ortonio made the confirmation during the direct examination of private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia who confronted Ortonio with accomplishment reports that the OVP submitted to state auditors on how the former spent its confidential funds.

He said this was how the P48 million for rental of safe houses was spent:

• P16 million from December 21 to December 31, 2022 (11 days)
• P16 million from February 6 to March 29, 2023 (52 days)
• P16 million from April 25 to June 30, 2023 (67 days)

Divinagracia also asked Ortonio to confirm if the P16 million was a constant amount regardless of the days covered, to which Ortonio replied, “Yes, based on the report.”

Aside from P48 million in rental of safe houses, Ortonio also confirmed the OVP spent P40 million of its confidential fund for incentives and travelling expenses, broken down to the following:

• P10 million within 11 days covering 132 areas in December 2022
• P10 million within 52 days covering 127 areas from February to March 2023
• P10 million within 67 days covering 111 areas from April to June 2023
• P10 million within 79 days covering 122 areas from July to September 2023

These prompted Divinagracia to ask if the amount was P10 million regardless of the number of areas covered, to which Ortonio replied, “Yes, based on the document.”

“The amount did not change,” he added.

Ortonio also said the last tranche of the P10 million spent during the third quarter of 2023 has been labeled transportation expenses by the OVP since the Commission on Audit (COA) already informed the OVP that the prior P30 million worth of confidential fund disbursements used for incentives and travelling expenses are not allowed under the 2015 Joint Circular governing the use of confidential funds.

Asked by Divinagracia if he was able to encounter contracts involving van rentals and trucking services since these were the answers provided by the OVP to state auditors to justify the incentives and travelling expenses, Ortonio said “I do not have any document.”

Zero receipts

The expenses are on top of the P122 million in confidential funds paid to informants supposedly to buy food and medicines, which has been flagged by Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo.

Under the 2015 Joint Circular governing the use of confidential and intelligence funds, confidential funds should only be disbursed by the head of agency or the special disbursing officer to the final recipient.

The OVP’s then special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta, however, testified that she disbursed OVP’s P500 million worth of confidential funds to OVP Security Officer Colonel Dante Lachica, who did another set of disbursements to end users who are the informants and agents.

OVP officials Acosta and Ortonio testified that Lachica submitted acknowledgment receipts in liquidating its P500 million confidential fund expenses, including those with unusual and funny names, and that these purchases did not have official receipts or disbursement vouchers.

“The explanation that was provided to me [by Lachica] was that binigay po ang pera directly doon sa mga informants and agents and the informants and agents na po ;yung bumili ng mga medical and food supplies. So, it's the acknowledgement receipt which is the proof of the release of the funds to the informants or the agents,” Ortonio said when asked by Divinagracia on official receipts.

“Wala po silang nabigay na (They did not give) official receipts, Ma'am, but there were acknowledgement receipts, Ma'am, that were provided,” Ortonio added.

Further, Divinagracia underscored that Ortonio was the one responding to at least four of the state auditors’ queries on how OVP is disbursing its confidential fund even if he has maintained that he does not have personal knowledge of how the confidential fund is being spent.

Divingracia was referring to audit observation memorandum (AOM) that the COA issued to the OVP dated October 19, 2023, November 30, 2023, April 19, 2024, and August 27, 2024.

Ortonio confirmed that these letters were addressed to Acosta and OVP’s resident accountant Julieta Villadelrey, but he was the one who answered these AOMs since it is “usually either the Assistant Chief of Staff or the Chief of Staff who responds on behalf of the agency” for such AOMs.

“Regardless kung may kaalaman, ang chief of staff at assistant chief of staff, ‘yan ang sinasabi mo?” Divinagracia asked.

Ortonio then said, “As representative of the organization, ma'am.”

In addition, Ortonio said that he did not read the protective intelligence operations reports submitted to him by Lachica concerning the use of OVP’s confidential funds.

“As the liaison, I am the designated liaison officer for the confidential funds, Ma'am. And yes, I submitted documents in a sealed envelope,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Ma'am, I was not able to read the reports, ma'am, because these are sealed already, ma'am. I submitted the documents only, ma'am, to the COA,” he added.

Senator Judge Raffy Tulfo earlier said that Ortonio, the third-highest-ranking official of the OVP, supposedly not knowing how the confidential fund was disbursed, defies logic. —AOL, GMA News