The Office of the Vice President (OVP) relied on the account of its security officer in responding to Commission on Audit (COA) findings on its confidential funds, with a senior official admitting Wednesday, August 26 that he did not independently verify key details about the payments or the supposed informants.

OVP Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio told the Senate impeachment court that he based six replies to COA audit observation memorandums (AOMs) largely on information provided by Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, whom Vice President Sara Z. Duterte had designated to implement confidential activities.

Ortonio said he met with Lachica once or twice to obtain information that would be incorporated into the OVP's responses to the auditors.

“I was able to meet Col. Lachica to ensure na I get the information from him and that I’ll be able to draft the replies to the AOMs properly,” Ortonio said.

The issue surfaced as Senate President and senator-judge Sherwin Gatchalian examined the basis for the six COA responses signed by Ortonio.

Ortonio confirmed that the replies were also sent to Duterte after they were drafted.

“All the replies, sir, that were drafted were also sent to our Vice President for her information, for her reference and review,” he said.

The OVP official also acknowledged that he did not personally verify some of the information used in the responses.

One of the COA findings involved confidential fund disbursements supposedly intended for medical and food assistance. Ortonio said Lachica told him that the money was distributed in cash to informants and agents, who were expected to use the funds to purchase the supplies.

“The funds were released to the informants and agents based on their representation that those funds will be used for the purchase of medical and food supplies,” he testified.

Gatchalian also questioned Ortonio about the ₱500 million in confidential funds released in four ₱125-million tranches from December 2022 until the third quarter of 2023.

When asked whether Lachica had confirmed receiving all four tranches, Ortonio said he was only making an assumption.

“It is my assumption, sir, na siya po iyong napagbigyan ng funds in four different tranches,” he said.

The senator-judge then pressed Ortonio on the documentary basis for the OVP's responses.

Ortonio said he did not personally see the acknowledgment receipts for the transactions while preparing the replies. Instead, former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta gave him documentary evidence of payment (DEP) documents contained in a sealed box, which the OVP later submitted to COA.

Ortonio further admitted that he did not establish how the alleged informants were selected, whether they had a connection to specific operations, or how the DEPs came into the possession of the OVP.

“I did not ask anymore, sir. I just requested the copies of the DEPs so that I can already submit them to COA as an attachment to the AOM reply,” he said.

Gatchalian questioned the potential consequences of accepting the documents and accounts without verification.

“Paano kung iyong DEPs ay peke? Paano kung iyong narration sa iyo ay hindi totoo? (What if the DEPs are fake? What if the narrations are false?)” he asked.

Ortonio said he relied on Lachica because the latter had been designated by Duterte to handle the confidential activities.

“He was designated by our head of agency, which I believe also gave the trust and confidence to him to implement the activity. Kung ano po iyong na-mention ni Col. Lachica sa akin, iyon po iyong pinagbasihan ko for the drafting of the reply,” he said.