A House of Representatives staff carries boxes containing confidential funds documents of Vice President Sara Duterte during the impeachment hearing on Tuesday, August 25. Photo by Wendell Alinea/Senate Social Media Unit.
Manuel Mogato | August 25, 2026
MANILA — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) may have violated more state auditing rules at the continuation of Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial at the Senate, the prosecution panel showed when grilling a hostile witness.
Lemuel Ordonio, an assistant secretary and deputy chief of staff at the vice president’s office, also told the impeachment court the vice president knew about the confidential and intelligence funds because she approved it and was informed of every step taken.
Lawyer Mae Divinagracia said the Office of the Vice President did not fail to secure official receipts for purchases and copies of original contracts for services, but made reimbursements for confidential and intelligence activities even before the funds were released. (Also read: Auditor flags further discrepancies on VP Duterte’s confidential fund spending)
On the 18th day of Duterte’s trial, Ordonio, who has worked with Duterte since 2008, told the court that the 125 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds given to the office in December 2022 was used in only 11 days.
When asked how it was done, Ordonio said the money was used to pay for past obligations before the funds were released.
He said the Office of the Vice President requested 250 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds for two quarters from the Office of the President in August 2022. (Also read: Billions of pesos flowed into Vice President Duterte’s bank accounts)
However, only 125 million pesos was released in December to cover the last quarter of the year.
He confirmed that all the funds were spent in 11 days, but they were also used to pay for activities done in
October, November, and early December before the money was released.
The prosecution said this was not allowed under the Commission on Audit (COA) rules. Worse, the expenses were not supported by valid official receipts and contracts.
Divinagracia also pointed out in her grilling that the OVP had receipts and lists of beneficiaries who had received medical assistance in the form of prescription medicines.
The OVP even purchased the medicines for the beneficiaries.
However, the medicines purchased using confidential and intelligence funds had no official receipts and were bought directly by the beneficiaries.
Ordonio also said he was unaware of how the confidential funds were used but only got reports from the security officer and the disbursing officer when he drafted letters to the audit commission after it observed violations.
Prosecutors have accused the vice president of misusing 612 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds, an impeachable offense that may also ban her from seeking any public office if found guilty.
