Prosecutor hits Acosta’s ‘selective memory’

Private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan questioned former Office of the Vice President official Gina Acosta over her supposed “selective memory,” pointing to differences in how she answered similar questions from the prosecution and defense.

Ligutan raised the issue after Acosta said she could not recall details about Davao City’s confidential funds when Vice President Sara Duterte was mayor and Acosta served as special disbursing officer.

He noted that Acosta appeared able to recall details from the same period when cross-examined by defense lawyer Lindon Miguel Bacquel.

“I’m confronting this witness with the fact that everybody heard. When I was asking questions, she conveniently could not remember. But when propounded with a similar line of questioning as to events that happened in Davao City while she was an SDO, she said, ‘Yes I can remember,’” Ligutan said.

Ligutan also questioned why Acosta appeared able to answer Bacquel’s questions in Tagalog despite previously saying she had difficulty understanding the language.

During Acosta’s first appearance on 17 August, senator-judge Erwin Tulfo questioned her language difficulties, noting that she had understood English and Tagalog during hearings at the House of Representatives.

Impeachment court presiding officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero had allowed Ligutan and Acosta to communicate in the vernacular, provided their exchanges were translated for the court.

Tulfo argued that the arrangement caused unnecessary delays in the proceedings.

“Do you remember that you said, ‘I can not understand,’ that’s why we had to go through the trouble of trying to interpret, translate to Bisaya, Tagalog, and English, do you remember these happenings in the courtroom?” Ligutan asked.

“Yes po, I remember, especially the deeper Tagalog words that I can not understand,” Acosta replied.

Asked why she was able to answer the defense’s questions without similar difficulty, Acosta maintained that she had also sought clarification when she encountered words she could not understand.

Ligutan nevertheless maintained that the “records are crystal clear” regarding Acosta’s exchanges with the prosecution and defense.

Acosta’s testimony forms part of the prosecution’s presentation of evidence on Article I of the impeachment case, which concerns Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.

Acosta handled P500 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP from 2022 to 2023.