The House prosecution panel highlighted before the Senate impeachment court on Monday, Aug. 24 the alleged P2.6 billion in confidential funds that respondent Vice President Sara Duterte had at her disposal during her time as Davao City mayor from 2016 to 2022.

Private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan confronted hostile witness Gina Acosta with an infographic showing the amounts of confidential funds in Davao City when Duterte--her current boss at the Office of the Vice President (OVP)--was still mayor.

The infographic, based on Commission on Audit (COA) records, showed Davao City recorded over P2.6 billion in confidential expenses from 2016 through 2022, covering Duterte’s six years as mayor: P144 million in 2016, P294 million in 2017, P420 million in 2018, and P460 million annually from 2019 through 2022.

Acosta handled the then-mayor’s confidential funds and later transferred them to the OVP, where she also handled the same funds as special disbursement officer (SDO).

However, when asked if she knew about the P460 million in secret funds Davao City had annually in those four years, Acosta said she could not remember such allocations.

She attributed her age for her difficulty in remembering such details to her age, which she said were from years ago.

“Contributor po ang edad ko, Your Honor, at saka dugay na po na, matagal na, Your Honor,” she said.

(My age contributed to it, Your Honor, and it has been a long time already, Your Honor.)

“You don't remember that. All in all, from 2019 to 2022, simple math will tell us: P1,840,000,000, almost P2 billion confidential funds sa Davao City binigay, hindi n'yo rin maalala yung total na 'yan. Tama po ba?” Ligutan said.

(You don’t remember that. All in all, from 2019 to 2022, simple math will tell us: P1,840,000,000, almost P2 billion in confidential funds were given to Davao City, and you also don’t recall that total. Is that correct?)

The amount of secret funds Vice President Duterte had as Davao City mayor dwarfed the P612.5 million in confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 to the OVP and to the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was education secretary.

The OVP received a total of P500 million, while P112.5 million was released to DepEd.

Acosta testified that she released the entire P500 million in four tranches to then OVP security officer Col. Raymund Dante Lachica upon Duterte’s orders.

Lachica was then commander of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG). He was later let go from his post following the controversy over the alleged misuse of OVP and DepEd confidential funds.

His DepEd counterpart, Col. Dennis Nolasco, allegedly received the department’s secret funds from the agency’s SDO, Edward Fajarda.

Fajarda has been subpoenaed to testify in the Vice President’s trial.

However, the impeachment court presiding officer Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, announced on Monday that Fajarda sent a letter from a law firm informing the court that he suffered a stroke and wished to excuse himself from the trial.