Raffy Tulfo on Gina Acosta: Stupid in the name of blind loyalty

Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo on Monday took a swipe at Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta for failing to question supposed discrepancies on the acknowledgement receipts for confidential funds.

On the 17th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Tulfo asked Acosta---a hostile witness fielded by the House prosecution team---if she would consider herself “smart, average, or stupid.”

The witness said she would consider herself an “average” person.

Tulfo then pointed out the unusual names written on the acknowledgement receipts, with some bearing different names of informants but only having one signature. He said an average person should have questioned such details.

“If you're a normal or average person, papalag ka naman? Teka muna, Colonel, bakit ganito? Bastusan na 'to, lokohan 'to. Eh yung iba-ibang mga pangalan, pero iisa lang po ‘yung pirma. Hindi kayo nagtaka” Tulfo asked.

(If you’re a normal or average person, shouldn’t you be questioning this? Should you not have asked, Col. Lachica, 'Why is it like this?' This is blatant disrespect; it’s like he’s fooling you. There were different names, yet the signature was the same. Didn't you find that odd?)

Acosta, in response, said that former Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica was the one “implementing” the activities funded by the confidential funds.

“Pina-reply ko po ‘yun, si Col Lachica, Your Honor. At ang sagot naman niya sa akin, ‘Ma'am Gina, those are sensitive information, Ma'am Gina, at saka confidential in nature po ‘yun,’” she explained.

(I asked Col. Lachica for a reply, Your Honor. And his response to me was, ‘Ma'am Gina, that is sensitive information and confidential in nature.’)

Tulfo said that for him, it seems that Acosta has become “stupid” due to her “blind loyalty.”

“So for me, in this case, you're stupid in the name of blind loyalty,” the senator-judge said.

“Naging stupido kayo sa ngalan ng isang tinatawag na blind loyalty. Nakapikit, kung ano ‘yung sinasabi sa’yo ng nakakataas, sinusunod mo na lang. Stupido ka pa rin, pero in the name of blind loyalty. Would you agree?”

(You acted stupidly in the name of so-called blind loyalty. You were just blindly accepting whatever your superiors told you and simply following orders. You were being stupid, but in the name of blind loyalty. Would you agree?”

Acosta said she could not understand Tulfo.

“Dili ko maintindihan (I can't understand), Your Honor. I'm sorry,” she said.

To recall, in a House committee hearing in November 2024, disbursement officers from the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd)—which was previously headed by Duterte—said that millions of confidential funds were transferred to Lachica and former VPSPG deputy commander Colonel Dennis Nolasco.

During the impeachment trial last Monday, August 17, Acosta reaffirmed her November 2024 testimony that it was the Vice President who asked her to disburse the P125-million confidential funds to Lachica.

Acosta said that she released a total of P500 million of confidential funds in 2022 and 2023 to Lachica on the orders of Duterte, as well as Lachica’s expertise on security matters even if existing guidelines do not allow it. –Lyjah Tiffany Bonzo/NB, GMA News