The near-identical language used to describe physical targets in the Office of the Vice President’s spending blueprints for two consecutive years drew a sharp rebuke from Senator-judge Panfilo “Ping” Lacson during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Reviewing the Physical and Financial Plans covering 2022 and 2023, Lacson zeroed in on how the descriptions of the OVP’s intended accomplishments appeared to have been lifted wholesale from one document to the next.
“Hindi ba ito insulto sa common sense? Hindi niyo man lang binago nang kaunti […] copy-paste eh,” he said, questioning why no effort had been made to differentiate the two plans.
He turned to OVP Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio for a reaction to the duplicated text.
“Ako na ang magde-describe, I think it’s stupid. Sana man lang binago-bago niyo nang konti,” Lacson added.
The exchange unfolded on August 25, 2026, as Ortonio testified as the prosecution’s second hostile witness. During direct examination by private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia, the prosecution flagged that the 2023 plan reproduced its predecessor almost word for word, swapping in “socioeconomic program delivery” as the listed activity while the earlier version had cited a “Good Governance Program,” according to Philstar.com and OneNews.PH.
Ortonio, a longtime Duterte aide who has worked with the Vice President since her years in Davao City politics, confirmed that the plans carried no itemized breakdown of programs or activities and instead grouped everything under a single umbrella heading. Joint Circular 2015-01, which governs confidential and intelligence spending, requires each such plan to specify the estimated amount tied to every project, activity, and program.
Testimony at the hearing also established that the OVP asked the Department of Budget and Management for P250 million in confidential funds through a letter dated August 22, 2022 — before any spending plan existed. The Daily Tribune reported that the only document accompanying that request was a written explanation of why the office needed the money, with the OVP merely committing to draft the relevant programs later. The plan itself was not prepared until mid-September 2022, roughly a month after the initial request.
Under the joint circular cited repeatedly during questioning, cash advances for confidential funds must be tied to specific legal purposes connected to intelligence work — a standard the prosecution has argued the OVP’s generic, recycled plans failed to meet.
