Witness: VP Sara knows how OVP's P500-million confi fund was spent

Office of the Vice President (OVP) Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio on Tuesday said that Vice President Sara Duterte is knowledgeable about how the P500 million in confidential funds allocated to her office were spent.

Ortonio made the confirmation when Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero took over the questioning from private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia, who asked Ortonio if the Vice President was the mastermind and architect of how the OVP’s confidential funds were disbursed.

Divinagracia posed the question to Ortonio since he earlier testified that Duterte approved the request and signed off on liquidation reports on the usage of confidential funds which included those acknowledgement receipts of recipients bearing names like Andy Lim, Shane Ngitngit and Timon Pusa

“Mr. Ortonio, lahat ng nangyayari at ginawa kaugnay ng confidential fund mula sa paghingi nito sa DBM, sa paggastos, kung paano ito ginastos, paano ito ni-liquidate, kasabay na ‘yung mga sagot na binigay kaugnay sa AOM, notice of suspension, at notice of disallowance, lahat ito ay alam, nasa ilalim ng superbisyon, pinahintulutan, at inotorisa ng Ikalawang Pangulo?” Escudero asked.

(Mr. Ortonio, were all the events and actions regarding the confidential fund—from the request made to the DBM, the spending and the manner in which it was spent, and its liquidation, as well as the responses provided concerning the AOM, notice of suspension, and notice of disallowance—known to, supervised by, permitted, and authorized by the Vice President?)

The OVP official replied that he knows that Duterte is cognizant about the confidential funds.

“Based on my understanding sir, and based on what I know, yes, the Vice President knows about the confidential activities and how it is being implemented,” Ortonio answered.

Escudero pressed if the witness did anything that the Vice President did not know or approve of regarding the matter.

Ortonio said there was none.

Word use

Prior to this, defense counsel Kristine Ferrer objected to, and moved to strike off the record, Divinagracia’s question to Ortonio to confirm that the Vice President is the so-called “architect” and “mastermind” of the confidential fund operation.

Escudero ruled in favor of the defense and asked the prosecution lawyer to use “more acceptable” words.

Divinagracia submitted to Escudero’s ruling but made it clear that the prosecution use of words is a matter of telling the truth.

“We want to call spade a spade,” she said.

Ortonio, who has been declared a hostile witness by the Senate impeachment court, earlier said that the OVP, under Duterte, requested P250 million in confidential funds in August 2022 and submitted the corresponding spending plan almost a month later.

This belated submission of the spending plan is not provided under the 2015 guidelines on the use of confidential and intelligence fund which states that “all allocations of confidential and/or intelligence fund shall be supported with a physical and financial Plan indicating the proposed amount allocated for each program, activity, and project, where disbursements pertaining to confidential and intelligence fund will be based.”

In a separate press conference, lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro said Ortonio’s testimony clearly bolstered the impeachment case against the Vice President.

Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro of Batangas on the prosecution’s use of terms pagsisinungaling, scam, to describe questionable confidential fund liquidation papers: We need to be accurate @gmanews pic.twitter.com/mIR002WGac

— Llanesca T. Panti (@llanescajourno) August 25, 2026

“Mr. Ortonio was bale to emphasize the irregularities with respect to the compliance in the Joint Circular 2015-01 [governing the use of confidential funds] in terms of requesting for confidential fund, its utilization and liquidation. Mr. Ortonio was authorized by the head of agency to conduct the overall supervision, and to be specific, administrative and financial supervision, concerning confidential funds,” she said.

“He likewise testified that making the request, spending and liquidation of confidential funds are under his supervisory power granted to him by the head of agency, Vice President Duterte,” Luistro added.

In addition, she said that the prosecution’s use of words is not whimsical but grounded on facts.

“I hope the people would understand that we are mandated as well to be very much accurate in communicating not only to the Senator-judges but also to the Filipino people which is the party that the prosecution team is representing. What is at stake is the interest of the Filipino people and that is why we want to be accurate, sakto, maliwanag sa gusto namin tukuying salita o pangyayari,” Luistro said.

(We want to be precise, clear in making our point.) — BM, GMA News