Assistant Secretary and chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio confirmed Tuesday that he provided P150,000 out of his own pocket to cover the excess expenses under the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds (CF).
During the 18th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Ortonio said he paid for the amount due to an urgent request from Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, the security officer who was said to ‘implement’ the OVP’s confidential funds.
‘This was raised to me by Miss Gina Acosta, our [special disbursing officer], and then she mentioned that there was a request,’ Ortonio said.
This statement echoes Acosta’s testimony on Monday saying that it was indeed Ortonio who provided the difference, but Acosta clarified that she has no personal knowledge regarding where Ortonio got the money.
Flagged by COA
The P150,000 discrepancy was the amount flagged in the Commission on Audit (COA)’s Notice of Suspension (NS) on the OVP’s confidential fund utilization.
While the accomplishment report reflected expenses totaling P125 million which is equal to the cash advance of the OVP, the documents evidencing payments submitted to COA showed actual expenses amounting to P125,150,000.
When the NS was issued to the OVP, Ortonio initially told COA that acknowledgement receipts sent to liquidate the confidential funds may have been ‘inadvertently mixed with other documents.’
Nine days later, however, he submitted a supplemental reply clarifying that the P150,000 difference had been covered using his personal funds.
‘The reconciliation shows that an amount of P50,000.00 under Payment of Reward, and an amount of P100,000.00 under Purchase of Supplies, were provided by Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio out of his personal funds, due to the urgency of the expenses,’ his supplemental response read.
Ortonio’s salary
Meanwhile, Divinagracia pointed out that the P150,000 that Ortonio shouldered was just P40,000 shy of the OVP assistant chief of staff’s monthly salary of P180,000 to 190,000 as he worked under the Salary Grade 29.
Asked during trial whether it was common for the OVP to ask employees to shoulder expenses from their own pocket, Ortonio replied, ‘No, it’s not common.’
Divinagracia then questioned why he appeared to have forgotten the personal cash outlay when he replied to the NS.
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Ortonio said he initially responded because they needed to submit a reply, but later provided a supplemental response after verifying the details to ensure that the information submitted was accurate.
‘At the time, because of the urgency and because Miss Gina asked for help, I provided her with the request,’ Ortonio said.
Divinagracia asked whether the OVP has records for Ortonio paying for the amount himself but Ortonio answered in the negative. He was also asked if it was ever paid back to him.