Testifying for a second time, former disbursing officer at the Office of the Vice President Gina Acosta weeps before the Senate impeachment court. Photo by Joseph B. Vidal / Senate Social Media Unit.
Manuel Mogato | August 24, 2026
MANILA — A former disbursing officer at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) feigned innocence at the resumption of the Senate impeachment trial, pointing to an Army colonel who knew where the 500 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds went.
Taking the witness stand for a second time, Gina Acosta told the court she withdrew the funds but gave the cash to Colonel Raymond Dante Lachica, the head of the vice president’s security group.
Vice President Sara Duterte has instructed Acosta to ‘release” the intelligence funds to Colonel Lachica because he knew how to spend the money as a security officer.
“I did not ask any question because Colonel Lachica, as the security officer, has the expertise in handling confidential and intelligence funds,” Acosta said, adding, “I was told the information is confidential and I have no security clearance.”
Several senator-judges took turns grilling Acosta about her role in disbursing 500 million pesos in funds. (Also read: Auditor flags further discrepancies on VP Duterte’s confidential fund spending)
However, Acosta kept repeating her standard answer — she did not know what happened to the money and she just followed what the colonel told her to do.
Many of the senator-judges were frustrated because they could not squeeze any information from Acosta.
Based on Acosta’s testimonies, it was established that there were irregularities in the disbursement of funds when she transferred the cash to the Army colonel.
The liquidation reports also violated state auditing rules when the Office of the Vice President did not submit official receipts and invoices to support the office’s purchases of medicines, chairs and tables, and computers.
Senator-judges were shocked to learn funny names were recipients of intelligence funds, as well as the rental of safehouses, which amounted to 16 million pesos in 11 days. (Also read: Prosecutors plan to present a ‘fictitious agent’ as a witness at the impeachment trial)
More than 100 million pesos in medicines were also paid as a reward for intelligence information, and other activities, such as tree planting and free transportation, were passed off as intelligence gathering.
The prosecution was supposed to present another disbursing officer, but he was hospitalized for a stroke.
Three military officers will be presented next week.
