‘PUSA,’ ‘PAGONG,’ ‘BELAT’: Prosecution flags return of receipts for PHP 500-million OVP funds

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

House prosecutors on Monday flagged as unusual the practice of Col. Raymund Dante Lachica taking back acknowledgment receipts after former Office of the Vice President special disbursing officer Gina Acosta had used them to prepare liquidation reports for PHP 125 million in confidential funds spent in 11 days.

Acosta testified on the 17th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial that Lachica signed a receipt acknowledging he received PHP 125 million in cash in December 2022.

She said Lachica later submitted a fund utilization report detailing how the money had been spent, which she used to tally the expenses and prepare the liquidation documents for the Commission on Audit.

Acosta said she checked whether the amounts in Lachica’s report matched the PHP 125 million she released, then prepared an accomplishment report based on his submission.

After she submitted the liquidation to COA, she said she returned Lachica’s signed acknowledgment receipt to him at his request.

“Binawi po niya, Your Honor. Nakagawa na po ako ng liquidation, Your Honor. Naka-submit na po kami sa COA, Your Honor. Every time po, meron kaming confidential, Your Honor. Naka-liquidate po kami, Your Honor,” Acosta said.

The original receipt is no longer in her possession.

Private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan asked whether the same procedure was followed for the three PHP 125-million confidential fund releases in 2023. Acosta confirmed it was.

The four releases — PHP 125 million in December 2022 and PHP 125 million in each quarter of 2023 — total PHP 500 million.

Based on the OVP’s submission, the entire PHP 125 million was reported spent from Dec. 21 to 31, 2022: PHP 14 million for the purchase of information; PHP 10 million for the payment of rewards; PHP 16 million for rental and other incidental expenses related to the maintenance of safe houses; PHP 35 million for the purchase of supplies; PHP 40 million for the provision of medical and food aid; and PHP 10 million for incentives or traveling expenses related to confidential operations.

The breakdown showed an average expenditure of more than PHP 11.36 million per day over the 11-day period.

Ligutan particularly questioned the PHP 16 million reported for safe-house rentals and other incidental expenses, computing it at roughly PHP 1.4 million per day, and asked whether the amount could be considered unconscionable or extravagant under COA rules.

Acosta was asked to confirm the amount after prosecutors displayed the OVP’s accomplishment report to help her recall transactions made nearly four years ago. She confirmed the entry matched her copy.

Acosta said she relied on the documents submitted by Lachica because he implemented the confidential operations on the ground and she had no access to those activities.

Defense counsel Lindon Bacquel objected, arguing the question was argumentative and compound.

Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero overruled the objection but corrected Ligutan’s Filipino translation of “unconscionable,” saying the term referred to something difficult to accept or reconcile with one’s conscience rather than “kasuklam-suklam.”

The questioning also surfaced more unusual names in the liquidation documents, including “Antonio Pagong,” “Timon Andrew Pusa,” “Shane Ngitngit,” “Don Piang” and “Xuniso P. Belat.”

Those names joined previously questioned entries such as “Mary Grace Piattos,” “Renan Piatos,” “Jay Kamote,” “Miggy Mango,” “Matthew N. Keso,” “Pia Piatos-Lim” and “Xiaome Ocho.”

The receipts shown to the Senate impeachment court indicated payments ranging from PHP 100,000 to PHP 250,000 for purposes such as the purchase of information, transportation and supplies for confidential operations.

Ligutan repeatedly asked whether Acosta personally witnessed Lachica hand the amounts stated in the receipts to the individuals named. She said she did not.

She explained that Lachica disbursed the funds and conducted the activities on the ground, which she described as sensitive and confidential operations.

Ligutan also questioned why receipts attributed to thousands of purported recipients were retained while Lachica was allowed to retrieve the receipts he signed for the bulk releases.

Acosta said the individual recipients’ receipts came from Lachica and were later demanded by COA, prompting the OVP to submit them to state auditors.

Acosta confirmed she released the cash to Lachica despite knowing the provisions of Joint Circular No. 2015-01 governing confidential and intelligence funds.

The joint circular prohibits the transfer of cash advances from one accountable officer to another and the transfer of confidential funds from one government agency to another.

Lachica, then commanding officer of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, was not the OVP’s designated special disbursing officer and had no fidelity bond with the Bureau of the Treasury.

Acosta, who was bonded as the OVP’s accountable officer, maintained she remained accountable for the funds even after turning the cash over to Lachica.

“[…] Si Lachica siya ang commanding officer sa VPSPG, [hindi] po siya bonded, pero ang accountable pa rin, ako… I am still the accountable person… That’s why ako po ang gumawa ng liquidation,” Acosta testified.

Bacquel objected to that line of questioning, arguing Acosta had testified only about the PHP 125 million released in December 2022. Escudero allowed the prosecution to continue.

Ligutan earlier asked Acosta why she withdrew the entire PHP 125 million in cash on Dec. 20, 2022.

Asked whether the money had to be used within 2022 because the confidential funds could no longer be used beyond that year, Acosta said yes, adding the funds could be used only until Dec. 31, 2022.

Acosta earlier testified that Duterte personally ordered her to release the entire PHP 125 million in cash to Lachica, and that she would not have handed over the money without the Vice President’s approval.

She also admitted the disbursement of confidential funds was not among Lachica’s official duties as a security officer.

Ligutan asked whether releasing confidential funds in cash to a security officer and later allowing him to retrieve the acknowledgment receipt was a practice Acosta followed before joining the OVP.

He initially referred to the practice as a “modus,” prompting an objection from Bacquel.

Escudero sustained the objection, noting that “modus” could carry an incriminating meaning, and directed Ligutan to rephrase the question neutrally.

Asked instead whether it was the standard operating procedure she followed both in Davao and at the OVP, Acosta answered yes.

Upon questioning by Escudero, Acosta said their practices in relation to the liquidation of funds date back to Duterte’s term as Davao City mayor, when Acosta served as a special disbursing officer before 2022.

Monday’s testimony came as the trial resumed after weather-related disruptions. The court adjourned early Aug. 17, while proceedings set for Aug. 18 and 19 were suspended because of heavy rains.

The Senate impeachment court remains on Article I, which accuses Duterte of misusing PHP 612.5 million in confidential funds of the OVP and the Department of Education.

Acosta remains under direct examination by the House prosecution. Duterte’s defense team will have the opportunity to cross-examine her once prosecutors finish.