ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Confidential funds spent on tree-planting activities, OVP exec tells impeachment court

Confidential funds spent on tree-planting activities, OVP exec tells impeachment court

Published Aug 17, 2026 02:23 pm

At A Glance

  • Former OVP disbursing officer Gina Acosta testified that confidential funds were used for tree-planting and other "good governance programs," with liquidation documents approved by Vice President Sara Duterte.
  • Acosta admitted the physical and financial plan was "generic" and lacked itemized details, though she said attachments from Col. Raymund Dante Lachica provided specifics for COA audits.
  • Her testimony was presented as prosecution evidence under article I, alleging Duterte's offices misused P612.5 million in confidential funds between December 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.
OVP vice presidential staff officer VI Gina Acosta, Vice President Sara Duterte (Senate PRIB)
OVP vice presidential staff officer VI Gina Acosta, Vice President Sara Duterte (Senate PRIB)


Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta said confidential funds were spent on tree-planting activities under the agency's "good governance programs".
Acosta, a hostile witness for the prosecution in Vice President Sara Duterte's ongoing Senate impeachment trial, took the stand Monday, Aug. 17 and underwent direct examination by private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan.
According to Acosta, practically any activity can be funded by confidential funds as long as these are classified as good governance programs.
As the SDO of the OVP, Acosta was in charge of the preparation of most of the documents submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (COA) for the liquidation of the P500 million in confidential funds the office received from 2022 to 2023.
Acosta admitted that one of the documents, the physical and financial plan (PFP), which was approved by the head of agency to support the request for confidential funds, had no details. She described the document as “generic".
Acosta, now a vice presidential staff officer VI, said there was no requirement under Joint Circular (JC) 2015-01 or the guidelines on the entitlement, release, use, reporting, and audit of confidential and intelligence funds, to have an itemized or detailed list of programs in the PFP.
But Ligutan pointed out that there were at least two provisions in the JC providing that “cash advances shall be used for specific legal purpose” and “agencies shall report the specific detail of the corresponding expenditures".
Acosta said that the details were contained in the attachments the OVP sent to the COA for the audit, which she said came from then Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) chief, Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
She said all the details had to be provided by Lachica since he was the expert and was the one on the ground to implement the programs funded by the confidential funds.
Asked by impeachment court presiding officer Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero if she accepted all the submissions of Lachica for the liquidation of the confidential funds, including tree-planting activities as a good governance program, Acosta answered in the affirmative.
Acosta said that all the plans and submissions were presented to the Vice President for her approval. She said Lachica provided the inputs and guidelines on which activities can be funded using the confidential funds.
COA state auditors Roderick Wamil and Xylene del Campo testified last week that Lachica was authorized by respondent Duterte to disburse all P500 million of the confidential funds of the OVP even though he is not an accountable officer as provided under the JC.
Acosta's testimony was presented by the prosecution as evidence under article I of the articles of impeachment. The particular article alleged that Duterte’s offices misused a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds between December 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.

Related Tags

Tree-planting OVP Sara Duterte confidential funds impeachment Gina Acosta
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.