Witness Gina Acosta: OVP followed same system implemented in Davao on confidential funds

Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta admitted Monday that the office followed the same “standard operating procedure” in handling confidential funds that was used during Vice President Sara Duterte’s tenure as Davao City mayor.

Acosta made the admission during the impeachment trial after presiding officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked whether the procedure was the same in both offices.

“Is this the standard operating procedure that you followed when you were SDO in both Davao and under the OVP?” Escudero asked.

He described the procedure as the turnover of confidential funds to a security officer or another unbonded individual, who would sign an acknowledgment receipt. Once the fund liquidation documents were submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA), the acknowledgment receipt would then be retrieved.

“Na yung pagbibigyan nyo, security officer o sinuman, hindi bonded, pipirma na acknowledgement receipt, at pag nagbigay na siya ng fund liquidation report, fund utilization report, at naka-liquidate na kayo sa COA, babawiin na?” Escudero asked.

“Opo, Your Honor,” Acosta replied.

The exchange followed questioning by prosecution counsel Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan, who was examining whether the handling and liquidation of confidential funds reflected a recurring procedure.

“Hindi po ba ito iyong nagiging method of procedure—may Latin term po tayo—modus operandi?” Ligutan asked.

Escudero noted that the term “modus operandi” could carry a different connotation and instead reframed the question as one involving the offices’ “standard operating procedure.”

Acosta had earlier testified that Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, the OVP’s former lead security officer, retrieved the internal documents he had signed acknowledging receipt of four P125-million cash tranches in confidential funds.

Defense counsel Atty. Lindon Miguel Bacquel objected, saying the question was misleading because Acosta had previously said she could not remember the practice in Davao City. Escudero nevertheless allowed her to answer the reformulated question.

The testimony raised questions about whether the OVP’s handling of confidential funds was an isolated arrangement or a procedure carried over from Duterte’s years as Davao City mayor.

Documents submitted to COA reportedly showed that Davao City accumulated more than P2 billion in confidential and intelligence funds during Duterte’s tenure as mayor from 2016 to 2022. The annual allocation rose from P144 million in 2016 to P460 million each year from 2019 to 2022.

Ligutan also questioned Acosta about the cash disbursement record (CDR), which an SDO is required to maintain for invoices, receipts, vouchers and funds released each day.

Acosta confirmed that she kept a CDR and that it reflected the December 2022 release of confidential funds to Lachica.

“Yes po. Nakalagay po doon, ‘release to security officer Sir Lachica,’” Acosta testified.

However, when Ligutan asked for a copy of the CDR, Acosta said she did not bring it with her.

“Hindi ko dinala, Your Honor,” she said.

Ligutan also distinguished between the internal acknowledgment receipt signed by Lachica, which Acosta said was later retrieved, and acknowledgment receipts attributed to the supposed recipients or payees of the confidential operations.

Acosta said the latter documents were retained and submitted for audit.

“Na-submit na po lahat ang mga acknowledgment na galing sa mga taong naka-receive o pinagkagastusan ni Col. Lachica doon sa ground habang ini-implement ang confidential operation or activities,” she testified.

When asked whether she had reviewed the numerous acknowledgment receipts supposedly documenting the eventual use of the confidential funds, Acosta acknowledged that examining the records was part of her duties but said she could no longer recall many of the details.

“Trabaho ko po, Your Honor, pero sa dami-dami po ng acknowledgment receipts, hindi ko po maalala lahat iyong mga ibang details kagaya ng mga names,” Acosta said.

Acosta is being presented by the prosecution as a hostile witness in connection with Article I of the impeachment case against Duterte, which accuses the Vice President of the systematic misuse, misappropriation and illegal liquidation of P500 million in OVP confidential funds.

The prosecution argues that Acosta’s testimony is significant because it links the OVP’s handling of confidential funds to a recurring procedure involving the turnover of cash to a security officer, the issuance and subsequent retrieval of an internal acknowledgment receipt, and the submission of liquidation documents to COA.

-Paraluman News