Sara Duterte trial recap, Aug. 17: Gina Acosta as first 'hostile witness,' 4 bags of cash

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution's first hostile witness testified on Monday, August 17, that Vice President Sara Duterte ordered her to release P125 million in confidential funds to an assigned "security officer" in the last quarter of 2022.

Gina Acosta, former special disbursing officer of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), made the admission during her testimony on the sixteenth day of Duterte's impeachment trial.

Inclement weather forced the court to adjourn early, around 2 p.m., with Acosta still under direct examination. She returns tomorrow at 10 a.m. under the same subpoena.

Marivic Pareja, service director of the House Legislative Archives and Museum Management Office, only briefly took the witness stand today. She was excused without any direct examination after defense stipulated to several documents related to her role as custodian of official House records.

Here are the three highlights from today's proceedings.

1. Duterte gave the order for P125 million to be handed to Lachica

Acosta was declared the prosecution’s first hostile witness, a motion the court approved given Acosta's prior Ombudsman affidavit defending Duterte and her conflict of interest as a coterminous employee under Duterte. She is currently Vice Presidential Staff Officer VI.

Acosta testified that Duterte, as head of agency, instructed her to turn over the P125 million to Col. Raymond Dante Lachica, at the time the head of Duterte's security group, and the "security officer" Duterte designated for the OVP's confidential operations.

This is information that Acosta had previously shared at a 2024 House hearing, which prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan repeatedly cited, reading back and playing portions of the transcript to have her affirm the same answers before the impeachment court.

Acosta said she encashed the check on Dec. 20, 2022 and handed Lachica the full P125 million in cash on the same day.

Asked what gave her the confidence to release the entire amount to Lachica — who was not a special disbursing officer and whose job did not include disbursement of confidential funds — Acosta said she had Duterte's approval.

Acosta also described how the P125 million in cash had left the bank in four traveling bags.

To illustrate the volume of cash involved, the prosecution brought simulated cash bundles into the courtroom and displayed AI-generated images of P125 million in P1,000 bills, both in stacks and packed into four traveling bags.

Defense counsel Lindon Bacquel objected to both and argued they lacked basis and did not represent the amounts accurately. Presiding officer Sen. Chiz Escudero allowed them as simulations and noted a continuing objection to the AI imagery.

2. Acosta could not point to any rule allowing a security officer to spend the funds

Pressed by Escudero himself after a lengthy back-and-forth with Ligutan, Acosta conceded that spending confidential funds is not part of a security officer's job, and could not identify any provision of Joint Circular 2015-01 permitting it — the same circular she had cited as her basis for the release.

She however maintained Lachica was not technically a recipient of the money but received it to spend on confidential operations because he was "the expert" on the ground, and submitted utilization reports to her afterward.

Acosta said she could not carry out the work herself because she has no access to national security information.

Lachica's name appears in none of the OVP's physical and financial plans, accomplishment reports, liquidation reports or certifications submitted to the Commission on Audit, Acosta confirmed.

3. Language barrier and callout

Much of the morning was slowed by Acosta's difficulty following the questions put to her.

She asked early on to testify mainly in Bisaya, and Ligutan, who is from Leyte, had to rephrase and repeat questions throughout, at times translating them himself.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri suggested Ligutan simply put his questions in Bisaya and translate the answers back. Bacquel objected, saying he is not a Bisaya speaker and asked for a court interpreter.

A visibly irritated Sen. Erwin Tulfo eventually interrupted the direct examination to confront Acosta and express his doubts over her inability to answer questions in Tagalog or English. Citing transcript of her November 2024 House testimony, he said she had at the time answered in Tagalog and English throughout.

Escudero directed Ligutan to ask questions only in one language, either Tagalog or Bisaya, and to stop translating questions unless Acosta asked him to.

Notably, Acosta had no difficulty answering questions afterward.

Comparison of receipts. Before adjourning, Escudero shared the results of the clerk of court's comparison of acknowledgment receipts marked by the prosecution and defense. 

There is an overlap of 3,616 common acknowledgment receipts, over 2,000 from OVP and over 900 from DepEd. Every single acknowledgment receipt from the defense matched that of the prosecution's.

However, on the flip side, out of the prosecution's 4,492 acknowledgment receipts, 876 have no counterpart in the defense.

Both parties and all senator-judges will get a copy of the court's findings.

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