Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 16: OVP's P500M release contrary to guidelines

Day 16 began on a lighter note, with private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan and defense counsel Kristine Ferrer seen hugging after their tense exchange last week over allegations of misleading questions during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Prosecution

The light moment, however, was immediately followed by testimony of the prosecution’s first hostile witness, Gina Acosta.

Acosta said that the OVP did not have target accomplishments for the disbursement of its P125-million confidential fund received on December 21, 2022 since the Physical and Financial Plan is only a plan, not an accomplishment report.

Acosta said that the plan requires generic items as opposed to an accomplishment report, which calls for actual output.

She also testified that she released P500 million in confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 to Colonel Raymund Lachica on the orders of Duterte. The amount was also for the services of Lachica, an expert on security matters.

Lachica is the commanding officer of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group and the Security Officer of the OVP in 2022 and 2023.

Section 6.6.1 Joint Circular 2015-01 governing the use of confidential and intelligence fund provides that “Cash advances for confidential or intelligence fund should be drawn by duly designated and bonded SDOs or head of agency for the implementation of a program, activity, and project chargeable to the corresponding confidential or intelligence fund of the agency, upon approval of the head of agency” and that “under no circumstance shall it be used for liquidation of the previous cash advance or be transferred from one accountable [officer] to another.”

Further, Acosta testified that the two security guards of state-run Landbank dragged the four duffel bags containing P125 million confidential fund allocation to the OVP vehicle.

“I can’t remember if they used a trolley, Your Honor. I remember them dragging the bags,” Acosta said during the questioning of Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero on how the P125 million in confidential fund case was taken out of the bank.

Defense

The defense team objected to the prosecution’s presentation of an AI-generated photo of the P125 million in cash placed in duffel bags during the direct examination of Acosta, saying such an image is not an accurate representation of the size of whatever the prosecution is putting forward.

The defense’s objection, however, was overruled by the Senate court since the prosecution was clear that the photo was a simulation, not the evidence itself.

Senate impeachment court

The Senate impeachment court on Monday immediately dismissed House of Representatives Legislative Information Resources Management Department director Marivic Pareja after the defense panel stipulated to all documents presented by the House prosecution team.

But later in the hearing, Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo urged the Senate impeachment court to compel Acosta, who has been answering in Bisaya during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, to speak in Filipino instead.

Tulfo said that Acosta can adequately converse in Filipino and English, as seen in the transcript of the 2024 House inquiry where Acosta also testified on the OVP’s budget use. —LDF, GMA News