Vice President Sara Duterte left Monday’s House probe to attend to Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Gina Acosta, who was rushed to the hospital after her blood spiked to 150/100 following a spate of impassioned questions regarding her role in withdrawing the multi-million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

Acosta, identified by her colleagues as primarily responsible for managing the P500 million secret funds of the OVP alongside Duterte, and detained Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, made her first appearance at the House Committee on Good and Public Accountability following a threat of arrest.

To recall, Acosta along with Assistant OVP Chief of Staff Atty. Lemuel Ortonio, former Department of Education SDO Edward Fajarda, and Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda, were previously cited for contempt and ordered detained for repeatedly disobeying congressional summons, including subpoenas to attend the panel’s hearings.

According to Atty. Leandro Resurreccion IV of the OVP legal department, Acosta remained unresponsive as of 6:38 p.m. Duterte excused herself from the hearing to accompany Acosta to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, where Lopez is also currently confined after being cited in contempt. 

Lopez, initially ordered detained at the Correctional Institute for Women, but was allowed to stay in the hospital due to panic attacks and back pain.

Prior to leaving the Batasan Complex, Duterte guaranteed lawmakers she would attend the subsequent investigation of the panel into alleged irregularities in the utilization of her confidential funds.

Earlier in the hearing, Acosta admitted that she was trembling after being at the center of the investigation.

Lawmakers took turns bombarding Acosta with mounting queries to shed light on her supposed involvement in the confidential funds. She disclosed that she encashed the funds in four P125-million installments from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and transported them to the OVP office in Mandaluyong City.

Managed by security personnel

Acosta confirmed that she released P125 million confidential funds to Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group Commander Col. Raymund Lachica, the security officer of OVP, on 20 December 2022.

Aside from the encashment, lawmakers also grilled Acosta about the alleged dubious recipients of the funds, including Mary Grace Piattos, Kokoy Villamin.

Edward Fajarda also confirmed that he turned over P37.5 million in DepEd secret funds for the first quarter of 2023 to Col. Dennis Nolasco, DepEd’s designated security officer.

Both Acosta and Fajarda said that their actions were compliant with Duterte’s orders. The VP headed the DepEd for nearly two years until her resignation on 19 July.

"There is approval from VP Inday Sara. I trust Col. Lachica because VP Inday Sara trusts him," Acosta said. 

Meanwhile, Fajarda admitted that while he signed disbursement vouchers and certifications, the funds were managed entirely by Nolasco. 

Further, he denied having encountered the ultimate recipients of the funds and relied on Nolasco to provide acknowledgment receipts and other documentary evidence.

Under Joint Circular No. 2015-01 issued by the Department of Budget and Management and the Commission on Audit, it shall be the responsibility of the SDO, not security personnel, to disburse confidential funds.

Deputy Speaker David Suarez reprimanded Fajarda for allowing Nolasco to manage the funds, emphasizing that as the SDO, Fajarda holds ultimate responsibility for overseeing them.

“I was informed by VP Sara that there is a designated security officer,” Fajarda responded.

“So, the instruction came from VP Sara?” Suarez asked for confirmation, to which Fajarda replied, “Your Honor, VP Sara.”

Pressed further on whether there was documentation to support the delegation of responsibility, Fajarda confirmed the existence of a single document issued in January 2023. 

“Yes, Your Honor. I have it,” Fajarda stated, agreeing to provide the document to the committee.

Suarez underscored that, as the bonded SDO, Fajarda was responsible for personally disbursing the funds and could not delegate this authority. 

“You should be the one who is dispersing it. You cannot designate that authority and power to anybody else,” Suarez asserted.

The P37.5 million, part of the P112.5 million in confidential funds under DepEd, was encashed as a cash advance by SDO Fajarda during the first quarter of 2023, with two additional checks of the same amount withdrawn in subsequent quarters while Duterte was leading the department.

The P125 million encashed and handed over by Acosta to Lachica represented the confidential funds allocated to the OVP for the last quarter of 2022 but were utilized within just 11 days in December of that year. The OVP subsequently received an additional P125 million per quarter for the first three quarters of 2023.