OVP Asec Ortonio declared hostile witness in Sara Duterte impeachment trial

The Senate impeachment court on Tuesday declared Lemuel Ortonio, Office of the Vice President (OVP) Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff, as a hostile witness.

On the 18th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero made the ruling after Ortonio answered in the affirmative when asked if he is still working in the OVP and if he will lose his job if Duterte is impeached and removed from office given that his appointment is coterminous.

“To abbreviate the proceedings, the Court declares Mr. Ortonio as a hostile witness based on his adverse interest vis a vis the respondent and the prosecution,” Escudero said.

The prosecution was then allowed by the impeachment court to ask leading questions, but not misleading questions.

Private prosecutor Atty. Mae Divinagracia, during the direct examination, called Ortonio to the witness stand to testify for Article 1 of the impeachment case, which accuses Duterte of misuse of confidential funds.

The prosecution then offered the testimony of Ortonio to qualify him as a hostile witness and prove several points.

One of which, Divinagracia said, is that Duterte’s handprints “are on every document that mattered.”

“Mula request hanggang liquidation, nasa mahahalagang dokumento ang kanyang awtoridad at pag-apruba,” the private prosecutor said.

(She has the authority and approval of important documents from request to liquidation.)

She also alleged that the confidential funds of OVP were intended for and answered to “no legitimate confidential public purpose.”

Divinagracia also mentioned the P500 million that was allocated for the protection of the Vice President, which she already had.

“473 sundalo at pulis na ang nagbabantay sa kanya, sahod ng Republika mula sa ibang pondo. Walang Pangalawang Pangulo sa kasaysayan ang nagkaroon ng ganito,” she added.

(There are already 473 soldiers and police officers guarding her, paid for by the Republic from other funds. No Vice President in history has ever had this.)

She also described the explanations for the confidential funds as a “sham,” and that the supposed failure to account for such “gives rise to the presumption of misappropriation."

Defense counsel Kristine Ferrer, in response, noted that the items mentioned by the prosecution “are all conclusions of fact and law.”

“Actually, they are mere speculations and conjectures, not being proven before this Honorable Court, and they are all theories, and with all due respect, soundbites,” Ferrer said,

Regardless, the defense lawyer said they will cross-examine the witness to verify or disprove the allegations of the prosecution. —AOL, GMA News