Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta told the Senate impeachment court Monday, Aug. 17 how she was able to encash P125 million in confidential funds, which she then released to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica upon the instructions of respondent Vice President Sara Duterte.

Acosta's testimony as a hostile witness--given during day 16 of the Senate impeachment trial--allowed House prosecutors to trace the physical movement of the money from the preparation of the OVP documents to its encashment at Land Bank’s Shaw Boulevard branch and eventual turnover to Lachica.

Acosta, currently vice presidential staff officer VI, testified that she packed the money into four traveling bags and brought it to the OVP. These were then given to Lachica, then-chief of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG).

After private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan presented the disbursement voucher and check covering the fourth-quarter 2022 confidential funds, Acosta confirmed that the voucher’s processing, preparation and release of the check, and encashment all happened on Dec. 20, 2022.

Ligutan asked whether or not completing all these steps on the same day showed that the transaction had been fast-tracked. However, Acosta rejected such characterization.

“Hindi po minadali ‘yung pag-disburse. Dumaan po siya sa regular na proseso namin sa office, Your Honor,” she said.

(The disbursement was not rushed. It went through our regular office process, Your Honor.)

According to Acosta, she reached the bank betwen 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. after the OVP cash division informed her that the check was ready for encashment. She confirmed that Land Bank had been notified in advance to prepare the P125 million.

Presiding officer Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero later sustained the defense’s objection when Ligutan tried to establish that the notice necessarily preceded approval of the voucher and preparation of the check.

“Nakalagay siya sa box. Naka-bundle, tag-P1 million ang isa ka bundle, nakabalot sa cellophane na selyado pa,” Acosta further testified regarding the encashment.

(It was placed in a box. Bundled, each bundle worth P1 million, wrapped in sealed cellophane.)

She told the court that she counted 125 sealed bundles but did not open the plastic wrapping. She also did not count the P1,000 bills individually.

The money was then transferred from the boxes into four black, oblong-shaped traveling bags. “Ako po, Your Honor, ang naglagay ng mga pera sa bag,” Acosta admitted.

(I was the one, Your Honor, who placed the money in the bag.)

Ligutan used physical mock-ups and an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated simulated image to illustrate the volume of P125 million in cash but defense counsel Lindon Miguel Bacquel questioned whether the representations had adequate factual basis.

The court overruled an initial objection and later noted the defense’s continuing objection to the AI-generated visuals.

Over at the OVP, two VPSPG personnel helped remove the bags from a vehicle after seeing that Acosta could not lift one herself. The bags were placed on a trolley, taken through a service elevator and brought to an extension office.

Upon Duterte’s instructions, Acosta said she called Lachica after encashing the check to inform him that the funds were ready.

Prosecutors highlighted in a press conference after the hearing that Acosta's testimony directly implicated Duterte to the turnover of P125 million in confidential funds to Lachica.

“Naging maliwanag kanina na nakumpirma ang sinabi ng mga Landbank managers na una nating narinig na itong bulto-bultong pera ay tinanggap ng [SDO], Gina Acosta,” private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said.

(It became clear earlier that the statements of the Landbank managers we first heard were confirmed — that these bundles of cash were received by [SDO], Gina Acosta.)

The prosecution’s position was that Lachica had no authority to receive and disburse the confidential funds since he was not an organic employee. Worse, he was not the OVP's designated SDO.

'Palpable gasp'

Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, a solon-prosecutor said the moment produced a visible, audible reaction inside the trial venue.

“There was a palpable gasp ‘nung itinuro na ni Ms. Gina Acosta ang Pangalawang Pangulo na nagbigay ng instructions sa kanya para ibigay ang P125 million kay Mr. Lachica,” Ridon said.

(There was a palpable gasp when Ms. Gina Acosta pointed to the Vice President as the one who gave her instructions to hand over the P125 million to Mr. Lachica.)

Ridon underscored that Acosta was an OVP official called as a hostile witness by the prosecution, and that she had a unique impact compared to earlier witnesses.

“Hindi po ito COA witness, hindi po ito NBI witness, hindi po ito PSA witness. Ito po ay hostile witness, tao po mismo, [SDO] ng Pangalawang Pangulo,” he said.

(This is not a Commission on Audit witness, not an National Bureau of Investigation witness, not a Philippine Statistics Authority witness. This is a hostile witness, the very person, the Vice President’s SDO.)

Prosecutors further argued that the testimony did more than show that the cash was released while Duterte headed the OVP. They said Acosta’s answer proved that the instruction to hand the money to Lachica came from the Vice President herself.

This, according to them, makes it harder to place responsibility solely on subordinate personnel who prepared, encashed, or carried the secret funds.