Amid allegations of misuse, only Vice President Sara Duterte and her former security aide, Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, knew how her controversial ₱500 million in confidential funds were used, her deputy chief of staff told the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday, Aug. 26. Lemuel Ortonio made the admission at the conclusion of his testimony before...
Tag: Senate
Post
Informants, agents paid in cash from Duterte secret funds, says witness
Using confidential funds, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) paid its informants and agents in cash, which they used to purchase food, medicines, chairs, and other supplies. OVP Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio disclosed this to the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, in response to the absence of official receipts for the office’s multimillion-peso confidential...
Post
Duterte security officer handled secret funds but not cited in documents submitted to COA, says witness
The former special disbursing officer (SDO) at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) admitted on Monday, Aug. 17, that Col. Raymund Dante Lachica was not mentioned in any of the documents submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA) in justifying the disbursement of ₱125 million in confidential funds in December 2022. Gina Acosta made...
Post
More odd-sounding names of Duterte secret fund ‘recipients’ listed
More familiar and odd-sounding names surfaced as supposed recipients of million-peso confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte during the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, Aug. 11. DepEd special disbursing officer (SDO) Edward Fajarda was also found as having disbursed cash...
Post
COA’s document-based audit of secret funds disappoints senator-judges
Senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte expressed deep frustration on Wednesday, Aug. 5, over the Commission on Audit’s (COA) failure to go beyond the liquidation documents it reviewed regarding the alleged misused multimillion-peso confidential funds. Roderick Wamil, a former state auditor of the COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Unit (Icfau),...
Post
Why Sen. Pia Cayetano should consider recusing herself from the impeachment trial
One of the oldest principles of justice is also one of its simplest: Justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done. This principle explains why judges routinely inhibit themselves from cases in which their impartiality may reasonably be questioned. The issue is not always actual bias. More often, it...
Post
Impeachment court grants subpoena of Duterte bank, tax records
House prosecutors scored a victory on Monday after the Senate impeachment court approved their request to subpoena the tax and bank records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, as part of their evidence in her ongoing trial. Also ordered to be presented were her records at the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)....
Post
House prosecutors drop VP chief of staff, another as impeachment trial witnesses
House prosecutors have decided to forego presenting Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff of the Office of the Vice President, and another witness on Wednesday’s impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday that the prosecution panel deemed “totally unnecessary” the testimonies of Lopez and Capt....
Post
VP threats ‘serious, true, real,’ says NBI witness
The grave threats made by Vice President Sara Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez in an online news conference on Nov. 23, 2024, were “serious, true, and real” as well as “alarming,” according to a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) executive. Lawyer Jeremy Lotoc, who...
Post
Ombudsman files plunder and bribery charges against Marcoleta and 3 others
Saying it cannot just look away, the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday filed a nonbailable plunder case against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta at the Sandiganbayan over the ₱75 million in undeclared campaign contributions he received for the 2025 senatorial elections. Marcoleta was also charged with three counts of violating Presidential Decree No. 46, which prohibits...