OVP requested P250M confi funds in 2022, submitted spending plan later — witness

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) Sara Duterte requested P250 million in confidential funds in August 2022 and submitted the corresponding spending plan almost a month later, OVP Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio said Tuesday.

Ortonio made the confirmation during the direct examination of private prosecutor Mae Divinangracia during Day 18 of the impeachment trial of the Vice President.

"Yes, that's correct," Ortonio replied when asked to confirm that the Vice President signed off on the request for P250 million in confidential funds from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

"In the context of the plans and programs of the OVP, there has already been plans already at the beginning of the term of the Vice President in July of 2020," Ortonio said.

Ortonio, however, replied, "Yes, there were no attachments," when Divinagracia asked him if the OVP submitted the August 2022 request for confidential funds without a physical and financial plan attached to the letter.

READ: Who is Lemuel Ortonio?

Divinagracia then cited that the August 2022 letter only stated that the OVP committed "to formulate programs, projects, and activities relevant to national security and peace and order."

Ortonio thereafter confirmed that the OVP only submitted its physical and financial plan in support of its request for confidential funds to the DBM in September 2022, or 28 days after the original request was made.

Ortonio then said Duterte knew that he submitted the physical and financial plan to the DBM on September 19, 2022.

In addition, Ortonio said the physical and financial plan was also approved by the OVP on September 16, 2022, or three days before it was submitted to the DBM.

The Office of the President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. eventually approved a P125-million confidential fund allocation for the OVP for 2022, which was released in December 2022.

'Cart before the horse'

In a press conference, House prosecution panel spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa, Jr. and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong said such a belated submission of the physical and financial plan makes the request suspect.

"What happened was putting the cart before the horse. They already requested money ahead of the submitting a plan how they will use it. Do they really have a basis for requesting P250 million worth of confidential funds to begin with?" Adiong asked.

"If you are asking for funding, you should have a plan how will you use it. The issue here is not whether or not the funding's release was delayed. The important question to be asked is, are these funds used for the purposes allowed under the guidelines," Tolosa added.

Of the P125 million confidential funds of the OVP in 2022, the Commission on Audit (COA) issued a notice of disallowance (ND) on P73 million of confidential fund disbursement.

An ND is issued when an expenditure is "either irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable" and orders the concerns agency to return such amount to government coffers. — VDV, GMA News