IN THE DARK?: Aide says only Duterte, Lachica knew how confidential fund was used

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Only Vice President Sara Duterte and security chief Col. Raymund Dante Lachica knew where and how the Office of the Vice President’s PHP 625 million in confidential funds were spent, the impeachment trial revealed Wednesday.

Office of the Vice President (OVP) Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio pointed to the two officials as the only ones with knowledge of how and where the money went.

Ortonio admitted before the Impeachment Court that he had no personal knowledge of the actual disbursement of the hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds.

“I have no personal knowledge,” Ortonio testified.

Presiding Officer Francis Escudero underscored that the gap in knowledge extended to the highest levels of the OVP staff.

“Even the Assistant Chief of Staff does not know. This was also the position of the Chief of Staff [Atty. Zuleika Lopez],” Escudero stressed.

Asked whether Duterte knew how the funds were spent, Ortonio said that as head of the OVP, the Vice President would have known how the activities funded by the confidential funds were implemented.

“The way I understand it, as the head of the agency, I would understand that she knows the implementation,” Ortonio said.

Ortonio also confirmed that Lachica knew how the funds were used because he headed the OVP’s security operations.

“Yes, as head of the security of the OVP,” he said.

“So in your office, only VP Sara, as head of the agency, knows. You, as Assistant Chief of Staff, do not know. The Chief of Staff does not know. Col. Lachica also knows,” Escudero said.

Lachica’s role came under further scrutiny after Escudero pointed out that, based on the earlier questioning of Senator-Judge Vicente Sotto III, Lachica was not part of the OVP’s organic personnel.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Ortonio confirmed.

PHP 125 million spent in just 11 days

Questions over the handling of the confidential funds have persisted since the OVP received its first PHP 125-million tranche in December 2022, which records showed was fully spent within just 11 days, from Dec. 21 to 31.

Based on the liquidation documents submitted by the OVP, PHP 40 million was supposedly spent on medical and food assistance; PHP 35 million on supplies; PHP 16 million on safe houses and incidental expenses; PHP 14 million for the purchase of information; PHP 10 million for rewards; and another PHP 10 million for incentives and travel related to confidential operations.

The liquidation documents also became controversial after acknowledgment receipts carried questionable names such as “Mary Grace Piattos,” “Chippy McDonald,” “Timon Andrew Pusa,” “Antonio Pagong,” “Shane Ngitngit,” “Don Piang,” “May Piang,” and “Xuniso P. Belat.”

Former OVP Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta had also admitted before the Impeachment Court that some of the names appearing on the acknowledgment receipts were aliases and not the recipients’ real names.

The Commission on Audit had earlier issued a Notice of Disallowance covering PHP 73.287 million of the OVP’s confidential fund expenditures due to questionable spending and insufficient supporting documents.

The testimony raises a central question over accountability for the confidential funds. Senior OVP officials, including its Assistant Chief of Staff and Chief of Staff, claimed no personal knowledge of how the money was actually spent, while testimony identified Duterte and Lachica as the officials who knew how the confidential operations were implemented.