Manila: The testimony of former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta has exposed what the House prosecution team described as a 'modus operandi' in the handling and use of Vice President Sara Duterte's confidential funds. House trial spokesperson Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong stated that Acosta's testimony demonstrated that Duterte was 'calling the shots' when she instructed the SDO to hand over PHP125 million in cash to then-chief of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, who lacked the authority to disburse the funds.
According to Philippines News Agency, Acosta testified as a hostile witness before the Senate impeachment court, revealing that she withdrew the PHP125 million as the OVP's designated SDO and handed over the entire amount to Lachica upon Duterte's instruction. She acknowledged that she would not have given the money to Lachica had Duterte not ordered her to do so. Alonto Adiong highlighted that the testimony portrayed Duterte as 'the one that is actually pulling the strings,' with Acosta effectively surrendering her authority as SDO to Lachica instead of personally disbursing the funds.
Alonto Adiong emphasized that the arrangement amounted to an illegal delegation of duty as the joint circular governing confidential and intelligence funds did not authorize a security officer to assume the SDO's functions. He noted that Acosta did not transfer the responsibility on her own initiative but acted upon Duterte's instruction.
House prosecutor, Manila Rep. Joel Chua, remarked that Acosta's testimony showed her role had been reduced to merely withdrawing the money and turning it over to Lachica. Chua noted that Acosta also admitted having no knowledge of intelligence gathering despite being designated as the official responsible for disbursing the OVP's confidential funds. This revelation, he said, raised questions about why Acosta was appointed SDO in the first place and reinforced the prosecution's position that instructions ultimately came from Duterte as head of the agency.
The prosecution team also scrutinized Lachica's multiple roles in the process. Alonto Adiong explained that testimony showed Lachica provided inputs for the physical and financial plan that served as the basis for confidential fund activities, received the money from Acosta, and subsequently supplied documents concerning its use. He likened the arrangement to allowing the same person to identify what would be funded, handle the money, and account for how it was spent. Adiong added that concentrating these functions in one person removed safeguards intended to protect public money and opened the process to misuse and abuse.
House prosecution legal spokesperson and counsel Benjamin 'Jay' Tolosa Jr. stated that Acosta's testimony was significant because it clarified the 'chain of control' over the confidential funds. Tolosa noted that the money ended up with Lachica, despite him not being the SDO, precisely because Duterte instructed Acosta to turn it over. Tolosa said the chain of control over the confidential funds is becoming clearer based on documents and witness testimonies, which highlight the Vice President's role.
The House impeachment team, however, stopped short of declaring that the evidence presented so far was sufficient to convict Duterte. Tolosa stated that the determination belongs exclusively to the Senate impeachment court, while the prosecution intends to complete the confidential fund trail before resting its presentation under Article 1. The article covers Duterte's alleged misuse of PHP612.5 million in confidential funds, consisting of PHP500 million released to the OVP from December 2022 to September 2023, and PHP112.5 million released to the Department of Education while Duterte was education secretary in 2023.
