FORMER Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta on Monday admitted following the same procedure in handling confidential funds in Davao City and the OVP, including allowing recipients to take back documents acknowledging receipt of the money after liquidation.
The admission came as the House prosecution traced Acosta’s handling of confidential funds from Davao City, where Vice President Sara Z. Duterte previously served as mayor, to the OVP.
House prosecution counsel Amando Virgil Ligutan told the Senate impeachment court that Davao City was allocated P460 million in confidential funds annually from 2019 to 2022, or a total of P1.84 billion over four years.
Acosta, who served as SDO in Davao City before moving to the OVP, said she could no longer recall the amounts allocated to the city.
Ligutan later questioned Acosta about the procedure she followed in handling the OVP’s confidential funds, particularly the acknowledgment documents signed by Col. Raymund Dante Lachica when she released four P125-million cash tranches totaling P500 million to him.
Acosta testified that Lachica signed an internal document acknowledging each cash release but later took it back after submitting a fund utilization report and the funds were liquidated.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, the presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court, sought to clarify the procedure.
“So wala na po sa kamay niyo, nasa kamay na po niya?” Escudero asked, referring to the acknowledgment document that Lachica signed for the first P125-million release.
“Wala na po sa akin, Your Honor,” Acosta replied.
Escudero asked whether the same process was followed for the three P125-million releases in 2023, with Lachica signing upon receiving the money and later retrieving the acknowledgment after submitting his fund utilization report and the funds were liquidated before the Commission on Audit.
“Yes, Your Honor,” Acosta said.
Ligutan then turned to Acosta’s stint as SDO in Davao City and asked whether the same procedure was followed there.
Acosta initially said she could no longer recall. “I will have to recall, Your Honor, kasi matagal na po ’yun,” she said.
Ligutan described the procedure as a “modus operandi,” prompting an objection from the defense.
Escudero cautioned against the term and reformulated the question.
“Counsel, we both know modus has a secondary and double meaning,” Escudero said.
The presiding officer instead asked whether this was the standard operating procedure Acosta followed as SDO in both Davao City and the OVP.
“Ito po ba’y kinagawian ninyong practice at proseso nung kayo po ay SDO ng Davao kaugnay ng confidential fund at nung kayo ay SDO ng OVP,” Escudero asked.
He described the procedure as releasing confidential funds to a security officer or another person who was not bonded, having the recipient sign an acknowledgment document, and allowing the document to be taken back after a fund utilization report was submitted and the funds were liquidated before COA.
“Opo, Your Honor,” Acosta replied.
The admission established that Acosta followed the same procedure as SDO under Duterte in Davao City and later at the OVP.
In the OVP, Acosta testified that Lachica was not fidelity-bonded when she released four P125-million cash tranches totaling P500 million to him from December 2022 through the third quarter of 2023.
“Dili po siya bonded, Your Honor, pero ang accountable pa rin, Your Honor, ako gihapon, Your Honor. I am still the accountable person, Your Honor,” Acosta said. (He was not bonded, Your Honor, but I remained the accountable officer, Your Honor.)
She said Duterte designated Lachica to implement the OVP’s confidential activities.
Acosta later admitted she had no personal knowledge of Lachica’s actual payments to the recipients listed in acknowledgment receipts and relied on him and the documents he supplied in accounting for the expenditures.
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