By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — Col. Raymund Lachica, who headed Vice President Sara Duterte’s security group, was not an employee of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) despite being involved in the implementation of activities funded by the agency’s confidential funds, an OVP official testified Wednesday.
OVP Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio made the disclosure during the 19th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial when asked by Senator-judge Vicente “Tito” Sotto III about Lachica’s status in the OVP.
“He does not have any employment status in the Office of the Vice President,” Ortonio said.
Despite Lachica’s lack of employment status with the OVP, Ortonio testified that he relied on the former security chief’s representations when preparing the agency’s responses to the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding its confidential fund expenditures.
Ortonio said he considered Lachica the best person to provide information about the confidential activities because Duterte had designated him as a security officer.
“I believe, sir, na siya ’yung the best person that can provide the information, and then, second, sir, as the security officer, sir, he was designated by our head of agency, which I believe also gave the trust and confidence to him to implement the activity,” Ortonio said.
Both Ortonio and former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta previously testified that Lachica implemented confidential activities funded by the OVP’s confidential funds even though he was not the special disbursing officer accountable for the money.
The two witnesses also said they did not question Lachica about the activities because of their confidential nature.
The arrangement came under sharper scrutiny during questioning by Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo, who pressed Ortonio over confidential fund disbursements allegedly given to informants for the purchase of medicine.
Tulfo cited amounts of P50,000, P170,000 and P200,000 purportedly given to individual informants and questioned whether the recipients actually suffered from serious illnesses.
“Sakit din ba ang marami sa inyong mga informants? Mayroon bang mga malalang sakit sa kanila?” Tulfo asked.
“Para mabigyan ninyo ng napakalaking halaga bawat isang informant pambili ng gamot, dapat magtataka ka. Anong gamot kaya ang bibilhin nito?” he added.
Ortonio said he had no personal knowledge of the health conditions of the alleged informants or whether they actually used the money to purchase medicine.
He explained that the transactions were supported only by acknowledgment receipts, rather than official receipts that could establish how the funds were ultimately spent.
Ortonio also acknowledged that he did not question Lachica about the disbursements.
The testimony came as the Senate impeachment court continued hearing Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, which centers on allegations involving the misuse of confidential funds of the OVP and the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure.
ia/xf
