MANILA, Philippines — Former special disbursing officer Gina Acosta told the Senate impeachment court on Monday that she followed a standard procedure of turning over confidential funds to Vice President Sara Duterte’s security officer when Duterte served as Davao City mayor and later vice president.
Acosta, who handled confidential funds in Davao City and at the Office of the Vice President, said she turned over OVP funds to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, then chief of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, even though he was not a bonded disbursing officer.
She said Duterte designated Lachica as her security officer and that he handled the confidential operations on the ground.
Acosta has been declared a hostile witness by the prosecution because she remains employed at the OVP.
The prosecution questioned Acosta about whether the same procedure operated in Davao City and the OVP. Acosta confirmed that it served as the standard operating procedure in both offices.
The prosecution presented records showing that Davao City received P460 million in confidential funds annually from 2019 to 2022, or P1.84 billion during Duterte’s four years as mayor. Acosta said she could not recall the specific amounts because of the passage of time.
She testified that she also turned over P500 million in OVP confidential funds to Lachica through four releases of P125 million each. She said she no longer had the acknowledgment receipts because Lachica returned the documents after liquidation.
Acosta said she prepared and certified liquidation reports using documents Lachica provided. Some receipts lacked dates or names, she said, and Lachica told her that the available documents were limited because the transactions involved sensitive information.
Senator-judge Sherwin Gatchalian questioned how Acosta could verify that the funds had not been misused when she did not personally witness their use.
Acosta said she trusted Lachica because Duterte had designated him as a security officer and because he handled the confidential projects.
The prosecution cited Joint Circular No. 2015-01, which requires cash advances for confidential and intelligence funds to go to duly designated and bonded special disbursing officers or agency heads. The rules also prohibit the transfer of confidential funds from one accountable officer to another.
Acosta acknowledged that she turned over the funds to Lachica, who was not a bonded OVP disbursing officer.
The prosecution argued that the arrangement could have disrupted the accountability process because Acosta remained the accountable officer while Lachica controlled and implemented the spending.
Senator-judge Joel Villanueva suggested calling Lachica to testify, noting that Acosta had acknowledged that she had no personal knowledge of how the funds were actually used.
The impeachment court has yet to determine whether the practices described in Acosta’s testimony constituted misuse of public funds or violated applicable rules.
