THE Office of the Vice President (OVP) apparently gave its chief security officer “blanket authority” over hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds after the designated accountable officer turned over the cash to him without sufficient checking and due diligence, Deputy Speaker Rep. Paolo Ortega V said Monday.
Ortega, a spokesman for the House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, was referring to the testimony by former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta that she handed bags of cash to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, then head of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, on the instruction of the vice president.
“So, there was negligence on her part, but they were blind, blind followers. What they did was blind authority,” Ortega said in Filipino in an online briefing.
“It was like blanket authority, as long as they got the money, they would give it to the security officer, and then he would take care of it,” he added.
The confidential nature of the funds’ disbursement, however, does not exempt officials from accountability mechanisms under government auditing rules.
“Accountability is not confidential. What that means is, there is a mechanism for that, and it’s still covered by the Joint Circular, the one about the post-audit,” Ortega said.
Joint Circular No. 2015-01 sets rules on the entitlement, release, use, reporting and audit of confidential and intelligence funds, including responsibilities for officials handling the money.
Ortega said an accountable officer must be able to trace the movement and use of the funds rather than relinquish control after their release.
“The money is not simply released as petty cash. There is a process to that, there is backtracking, and the disbursement officer needs to be able to answer that. She knows where the money went,” he said.
The prosecution has emphasized that Lachica was a security officer, not the OVP special disbursing officer formally authorized to take custody of the confidential funds. Ortega said the transfer was particularly problematic because Acosta allegedly did not independently verify how the money was subsequently used.
"There is no more back-checking, no more due diligence. So, our COA circular has really been violated," Ortega said.
This lack of oversight, Ortega said, could result in jail time or dismissal from service for the persons involved if they cannot account for the public money placed under their custody.
“They really need to be aware of this, because they could face imprisonment over it. They could lose their jobs because of it,” he said.
Acosta particularly is accountable as her designation carried an obligation to understand the complete movement of the money, from its receipt and release to the manner in which it was processed and accounted for.
⠀“She should be the one who knows the most. She is the one who best understands where that came from, where it went, and how everything was processed. After all, she was the one who was given the task,” Ortega said.
'Central figure'
Members of the House prosecution panel, meanwhile, tagged lawyer Michael Wesley Poa as a “central figure” in the impeachment trial, pointing to his former stint as education undersecretary under the Duterte’s watch.
Ortega and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante said prosecutors are all geared up for Poa, who is also a member of Duterte’s defense team, to invoke lawyer-client privilege when he faces the Senate impeachment court as witness this week.
Poa’s testimony could shed light on questions left unresolved during a 2024 House inquiry into Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.
“He is a central figure, after all. So, whether attorney Poa is considered a hostile witness or not, I believe he is one of the central figures in this impeachment and in this specific article,” Ortega said in Filipino.
Poa served as an undersecretary, chief of staff and spokesman during Duterte’s tenure as Department of Education secretary. He would be the third person who have served directly under Duterte to be presented by the prosecution following Acosta and Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio.
“If the prosecutors or the prosecution team requested that he be included in the roster of witnesses — even as a hostile witness — it means the team is prepared for whatever he might say or whatever he might invoke, or for the possibility that this is part of their strategy,” Ortega said.
Abante, House Committee on Human Rights chairman, meanwhile, said Poa is “part and parcel of the impeachment” even if he is not the one on trial.
“What we want to know is what he knows about the activities our vice president is undertaking, particularly regarding the confidential funds,” he said.
Poa’s testimony could touch on military certifications used by DepEd in responding to Commission on Audit findings involving about P15 million in confidential fund expenditures, including activities linked to Youth Leadership Summits.
During the 2024 House inquiry, former DepEd undersecretary Nolasco Mempin testified that he obtained the certifications at Poa’s request.
“We are now in the impeachment court, and I believe this is the proper forum to clarify these questions,” Ortega said, further stating that the lawyer could provide more information than Lachica, who received confidential funds from Acosta on Duterte’s instruction.
The prosecution is presenting evidence under Article I, which involves allegations of misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of P612.5 million in confidential funds — P500 million at the OVP in December 2022 and the first three quarters of 2023, and P112.5 million at DepEd in 2023.
Prosecutors last week included Poa in their list of witnesses to next face the impeachment court, alongside Philippine Army officials Lt. Col. Manaros Boransing II and Col. Magtangol Panopio.
Poa was summoned because he was the one who responded to the Audit Observation Memoranda (AOMs) issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) concerning DepEd’s confidential funds.
Boransing and Panopio, meanwhile, will testify on certifications allegedly issued by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to justify the spending of P15 million worth of the Department of Education’s confidential funds in 2023 when Duterte still served as head of the agency.
