The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte reached its 18th day with attention on a single official and a disputed 150,000 pesos.
Lemuel Ortonio, assistant chief-of-staff at the Office of the Vice President, was set to testify on Tuesday and could be declared a hostile witness. His name has surfaced in several documents tied to the OVP’s confidential funds, the subject of the first article of impeachment, which alleges misuse and questionable liquidation of that money.
The specific issue is a set of receipts. The trial’s presiding officer, Senator Chiz Escudero, had earlier questioned why Ortonio submitted excess acknowledgment receipts totalling 150,000 pesos to the Commission on Audit. That figure connects to earlier testimony from a former OVP special disbursing officer, Gina Acosta, who said Ortonio gave her additional funds after the commander of the Vice-Presidential Security and Protection Group, Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica, said an extra 150,000 pesos was needed “for security purposes.” Acosta testified that she did not ask where the money came from.
Impeachment cases are often decided on exactly this kind of paper trail: who handed over what, who signed for it, and whether the documentation holds together. A witness treated as hostile can still be pressed for answers, and the receipts give the prosecution a concrete thread to pull.
None of the allegations has been proven, and the trial is the venue where they will be tested. But the shift from broad accusations of misused funds to a specific, traceable 150,000 pesos shows how the case is narrowing to particulars that can be checked against records.
