SPECIAL disbursing officers Gina Acosta and Edward Fajarda should not be made to absorb responsibility for confidential-fund transactions that were undertaken under the authority and supervision of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.⠀
House trial spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao del Sur raised the concern after questioning in the Impeachment Court focused on whether the designated disbursing officers rather than the agency head were accountable for the funds.⠀
“So I think yung line of questioning, I was listening to, with all due respect to Senator Imee Marcos, when I was listening to her line of questioning, it seems to me that they are trying to throw somebody under the bus,” Alonto Adiong said.⠀“Ano ba ito? Parang scapegoat ito. Sacrificial lamb,” he added.⠀
Acosta served as special disbursing officer of the OVP, while Fajardo handled confidential-fund disbursements for DepEd during Duterte’s tenure as Education secretary.⠀“Unfair naman sa SDO, kay SDO Gina Acosta, kay SDO Fajarda, kung sila, if all the blame should be directed at them,” Alonto Adiong stressed.⠀
Alonto Adiong pointed to documents bearing Duterte’s signature on the physical and financial plan, disbursement documents, liquidation report and accomplishment report as evidence of her role as head of the agencies involved.⠀He argued that a designated disbursing officer could not independently decide how to dispose of such substantial public funds without authority from the principal.⠀
“Do you honestly believe that Ms. Gina Acosta can do whatever she wants with that money without the supervision and approval of her principal? I mean, that would be absurd,” Alonto Adiong said.⠀Alonto Adiong clarified that he was not concluding that the senator-judge intended to absolve Duterte but was describing how he understood the direction of the questioning.⠀
“And I’m not saying that that is the direction, but the way I understood the line of questioning, it appears that somebody has to be thrown under the bus just to save the respondent,” Alonto Adiong added.
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