Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta testified before the Senate impeachment court that Vice President Sara Duterte authorized the use of four traveling bags to move ₱125 million in confidential funds withdrawn in December 2022.
According to Acosta, the check for the confidential funds was encashed on December 20, 2022, at the Land Bank of the Philippines Shaw Boulevard branch, after which the cash was packed into four traveling bags and transported to the OVP.
Acosta stated that proposing the luggage method was her own idea.
“Iyong naimungkahi ko po iyon kay Ma’am VP Sara at saka kay Asec. (Lemuel) Ortonio. And then, naisabi ko rin iyon kay Col. Lachica,” Acosta testified, making reference to OVP security officer Col. Raymund Lachica.
When prosecution attorney Amando Virgil Ligutan questioned how Duterte reacted to the plan, Acosta answered:
“Nagsabi lang po siya na okay.”
Acosta confirmed that she had brought the four bags with her to the financial institution prior to the withdrawal. She noted that the total amount was packaged into 125 sealed bundles worth ₱1 million each, which she transferred directly from bank boxes into her bags. Pressed by Ligutan on how she determined that four bags would suffice, Acosta stated:
“Tinantya ko lang po.”
When the presiding officer requested clarification on whether it was a crude estimate, she responded:
“Opo, estimate.”
Acosta acknowledged that she had never handled a task like that at any other point in her life. Ligutan observed that Davao City maintained an annual confidential fund allocation of ₱460 million from 2019 to 2022 during Duterte’s tenure as mayor, but Acosta replied that she had no recollection of those figures.
Throughout her testimony, Acosta maintained that Duterte instructed her to turn over the full withdrawal to Lachica, emphasizing that she would not have surrendered the money without explicit authorization from the Vice President.