Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta acknowledged on Monday that she could face imprisonment if found criminally liable over the handling of confidential funds, while maintaining that she remains the accountable officer for ₱500 million she released to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
Testifying as a hostile witness in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Acosta was pressed by House prosecution counsel Amando Virgil Ligutan regarding the consequences of her accountability under the joint circular governing confidential and intelligence funds.
When asked whether she knew she could be jailed if a criminal court eventually convicted her of an offense such as plunder, Acosta admitted the possibility, citing her explicit legal status as SDO.
Acosta’s admission came after she testified that Lachica was not fidelity-bonded when she handed over four P125-million cash tranches to him from December 2022 through the third quarter of 2023. She reiterated that Duterte had personally designated Lachica, then a security officer, to implement the OVP’s confidential operations.
Under Joint Circular 2015-01, an SDO is defined as the head of the agency or an authorized regular employee tasked with disbursing confidential funds and remaining accountable for them. Acosta acknowledged during her testimony that she could not point to any legal provision authorizing a security officer to disburse such funds.
The prosecution focused on Acosta’s accountability despite her admission that she had no personal knowledge of how the money was actually spent on the ground. She testified that she did not personally witness Lachica pay the purported recipients named in acknowledgment receipts or spend the money on safe houses, supplies, and other listed operations.
Instead, Acosta testified that she relied on Lachica’s verbal statements, fund utilization reports, and supporting documents provided after the operations. She signed the liquidation reports based on her belief that Lachica’s documents were accurate.
During redirect examination, Ligutan confronted Acosta with the joint circular’s definitions, highlighting that the rules expressly delegate fund disbursements to the SDO, while a security officer’s scope is strictly limited to accessing security information.
“Ako po ang nag-disburse, Your Honor. Hindi po siya ang nag-disburse, siya lang po ang nag-implement, Your Honor,” Acosta maintained.
The House prosecution challenged her distinction, citing her earlier admissions that she physically handed over the P500 million to Lachica and possessed zero firsthand verification of subsequent transactions.
Despite the scrutiny, Acosta insisted that her role as SDO kept the ultimate responsibility of liquidating the funds on her shoulders.
“Kasi ako po ang magagawa ng liquidation, kasi ako man po ang accountable officer, Your Honor,” she said.
The P500 million in questioned disbursements forms a primary foundation of the impeachment charges against Vice President Duterte alleging the misuse of public funds.