‘Testimony Of OVP Witness A Smoking Gun In Sara Trial’

The testimony of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte’s disbursing officer is the “smoking gun” in the prosecution’s effort to pin her down for misuse of her confidential funds, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said on Saturday, Aug. 22.

At the Saturday News Forum, Ridon said Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta provided information directly linking Duterte to the anomalous transfer of the funds.

He also said Duterte’s order to Acosta to hand over the P125 million in confidential funds to a security officer was the “original sin” that set into motion a systematic misuse of the funds.

Ridon, a member of the House of Representatives prosecution panel, said Acosta revealed during impeachment proceedings on Aug.17 that Duterte herself instructed her to turn over the money to then OVP security officer Col. Raymund Lachica. 

“That’s the original sin in the confidential funds misuse – the most significant evidence point that should be laid down, and I think we have registered it already,” Ridon said.

The instruction, he asserted, marked the point where the alleged misuse started and eventually led to questionable acknowledgment receipts bearing names such as Mary Grace Piattos and Milky Secuya.

“There would not have been Milky Secuya or Mary Grace Piattos if the Vice President had not told Gina Acosta, ‘give this to Col. Lachica,’” Ridon said.

In her testimony last Monday, Acosta admitted that spending confidential funds was not part of a security officer’s duties. She added she could not identify a provision in the joint circular governing confidential and intelligence funds that authorizes such an arrangement.

Ridon said the prosecution is still considering whether to present Lachica as a hostile witness, but indicated that his testimony would merely reinforce what Acosta has already established.

He said the key to unravelling the Vice President’s mideed is to establish the act of misuse and where it began.

“It’s really very important to prove the act of confidential fund misuse, which means the most important thing to establish is when the misuse began,” he pointed out.

The prosecution is expected to hear more of Acosta’s testimony when the Senate impeachment court resumes proceedings next week.

Bad weather last Monday forced the Senate impeachment court to cut short the proceedings even while Acosta was still under direct examination. It was to be the last impeachment trial for the week as the persistence of inclement weather forced the suspension of work in government offices.

There were brief interruptions during last Monday’s proceedings on account of Acosta’s apparent difficulty following questions from prosecutors. 

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

This prompted Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri to suggest that Ligutan simply put his questions in Bisaya and translate the answers back. But defense lawyer Lindon Bacquel objected, saying he is not a Bisaya speaker and asked for a court interpreter.  

Sen. Erwin Tulfo interrupted the direct examination to voice his doubts over Acosta’s claim of having difficulty answering questions in Tagalog or English. 

Tulfo presented transcript of her November 2024 House testimony, showing her answering questions in Tagalog and English. 

Eventually, presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero directed Ligutan to ask questions only in Tagalog or Bisaya, and to stop translating questions unless Acosta asked him to. 

Acosta later showed no difficulty answering questions.

Before adjourning, Escudero shared the results of the clerk of court’s comparison of acknowledgment receipts marked by the prosecution and defense. It showed an overlap of 3,616 common acknowledgment receipts, over 2,000 from OVP and over 900 from the Department of Education. Every single acknowledgment receipt from the defense matched that of the prosecution’s. 

However, out of the prosecution’s 4,492 acknowledgment receipts, 876 have no counterpart in the defense.