Former OVP SDO contradicts state auditor on confidential funds joint circular
MindaNews / 17 August 2026 – The former special disbursing officer (SDO) of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) said Monday that Physical and Financial Plans involving confidential funds don’t need to specify targets and activities, a statement that contravened assertions made by state auditors who had testified as prosecution witnesses in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Testifying as a hostile witness, Gina Acosta, asked by private prosecutor Amando Ligutan about the absence of physical targets in the OVP Physical and Financial Plan, said there was none because it was just a “generic” plan.
She said Joint Circular 2015-01 does not require specific activities.
But Ligutan pointed out that under item 6.1 of the joint circular, “cash advances shall be used for specific legal purposes related to confidential funds and/or intelligence funds.”
He said that since the program indicated in the plan was broad and general as described by Acosta, “so much discretion is given to the Office of the Vice President on how to utilize the confidential funds.”
After Acosta had answered “no,” defense counsel Lindon Bacquel objected, arguing the question was argumentative and speculative, but he was overruled.
In his testimony during the previous hearings on the confidential funds of the OVP and the Department of Education under Duterte as secretary, Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Roderick Wamil cited that the OVP’s and DepEd’s Physical and Financial Plans had no specific activities that would justify spending such funds, in violation of the joint circular.
Item 4.2 of the joint circular provides that all allocations for confidential or intelligence funds shall be supported with a Physical and Financial Plan “indicating the specific amount allocated for each program, activity and project” where disbursements shall be based.
Under questioning by Ligutan, Acosta, OVP SDO from 2022 to 2023, confirmed signing the agency’s Physical and Financial Plan for P125M confidential funds in the last quarter of 2022.
Acosta also confirmed she was the SDO of the confidential funds of then-Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte from 2019 to 2022, and that the job was not new to her.
Bacquel repeatedly objected to questions on Davao City confidential funds as irrelevant, saying they are not alleged in the articles of impeachment.
But presiding officer Francis Escudero allowed these questions from Ligutan for the purpose of allowing the prosecution to establish a pattern of behavior only, and noted the objection as a continuing one.
Acosta confirmed her November 2024 testimony before the House good government committee that it was Col. Raymund Lachica, then-head of the Vice Presidential Security Group, who gave the inputs for the plan.
Asked by Escudero, Acosta said she accepted all of Lachica’s liquidation reports for the P125 million released in December 2022 because Lachica was the expert on the ground.
Acosta, however, confirmed Lachica’s name does not appear anywhere in the OVP’s physical and financial plans, accomplishment and liquidation reports or certifications submitted to COA despite providing all the inputs for those documents and being the one who implemented the plan.
The impeachment court declared Acosta a hostile witness after the prosecution pointed out that in her counter-affidavit she said Duterte should not be held liable for the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
This, Ligutan argued, puts her interest directly against the prosecution’s case.
Escudero overruled the objection raised by Bacquel, who argued that adverse interest must be shown through actual examination.
Escudero said that since Acosta is a hostile witness Ligutan may ask leading questions, but not misleading ones. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)
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