OVP’s Acosta confirms no official receipts for medical expenses under confidential funds
MANILA, Philippines – Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta confirmed on Monday, August 24, that the medical, food, and supply expenses under the agency’s P125-million confidential funding in 2022 did not have official receipts.
Acosta told the impeachment court that she was only given acknowledgment receipts by then-OVP security head Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica.
“I relied on documents provided by the security officer,” Acosta said.
Prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan pressed Acosta: Why did she not ask for official receipts?
“What is so confidential about where Biogesic or paracetamol was bought?” Ligutan asked.
“I asked Lachica because I noticed that some (acknowledgment receipts) had no dates and signatures. He said, ‘Whatever documents I gave you, that’s it. These operations contain sensitive and confidential information,’” Acosta answered.
Monday’s proceeding saw the prosecution present more acknowledgment receipts bearing suspicious names, such as Antonio Pagong, Shane Ngitngit, and Timon Andrew Pusa.
When Ligutan asked Acosta if she confirmed that Lachica gave the money to the said signatories, she stuck with her assertion that she only relied on Duterte’s security officer, whom the Vice President had assigned to handle the funds.
“I didn’t witness [the handover] because I was not on the ground, and it was Lachica who implemented [the operation],” Acosta said.
The prosecution’s direct examination of Acosta, the first hostile witness of the trial, sought to establish before the court that the OVP violated the joint circular governing the utilization of confidential funds when she handed the funds to a security officer.
The prosecution also made an effort to point out that Lachica received the secret funds despite not being covered by a fidelity bond, and that Acosta did not have documentation of the fund transfer because Lachica took back the only copy of an acknowledgment receipt.
A fidelity bond “is a form of insurance coverage for public officers and employees who handle public funds or property” and “guarantees that an official will faithfully perform their duties and properly account for all public assets under their custody, reimbursing the government for any losses caused by theft, fraud, or shortages,” according to the Bureau of Treasury.
“It is very clear, Gina Acosta and Colonel Lachica will be in jail because of the misuse of confidential funds. But they are just ordinary public servants. We should make sure that the vice president will be arrested and removed from her post,” prosecutor Terry Ridon said.
The prosecution concluded its direct examination of Lachica before lunch time. – Rappler.com
