Members of the House prosecution panel expressed confusion on Monday, August 17, over Vice President Sara Duterte’s aide Gina Acosta appearing to struggle with speaking Filipino during her testimony at the Senate impeachment court.
The team noticed the sudden language difficulty after Senator Erwin Tulfo called attention to it during Acosta’s appearance as a hostile witness, noting that past evidence shows she had no issue communicating in Filipino during a 2024 congressional inquiry.
San Juan Lone District Representative Ysabel Maria Zamora, a member of the prosecution team, highlighted the contrast during a press briefing conducted alongside the Senate trial proceedings.
“Noong hearing sa Congress noon ay nakakaintindi naman siya ng mga tanong in English, Filipino. And she would answer in English, Filipino, and Visaya na halo,” Zamora recalled.
Zamora noted that while she was not attributing bad faith to the sudden change in demeanor, the panel observed the shift after Tulfo raised the issue.
“But of course, I don’t want to say that there was some malice involved. But well, let’s see in the coming hours when she returns to the witness stand,” she noted.
Tulfo questioned Acosta’s reliance on Cebuano and apparent difficulty with Tagalog, citing official transcripts from her November 25, 2024 appearance before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.
“Hindi ko po maintindihan bakit parang dito hirap na hirap po siyang mag-Tagalog, when in fact sa Congress po nung November, Tagalog nga po sagot niya,” Tulfo remarked.
Addressing the issue, former Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers, spokesperson and adviser to the prosecution team, suggested that Acosta might simply be overwhelmed by the pressure of the trial.
“Marunong naman siya mag-Tagalog eh. The transcript of the Committee on Good Government shows that she can reply, respond to a question either in English or in Tagalog,” Barbers said.
“So siguro medyo kinabahan lang. We will give her that benefit of the doubt, so to speak,” he added.
Barbers noted that Acosta’s decision to speak Cebuano posed no substantial issue, as lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, the prosecutor directing her examination, hails from Cebu.
Acosta, who manages special disbursement duties at the Office of the Vice President, handled ₱500 million in confidential funds for the office across 2022 and 2023.