From Mindanao, this trial feels close to home. The distance to Manila can feel enormous. The Senate sits far from our shores. Still, the case belongs to us too. Its outcome will ripple through the South.
The trial turned to the confidential funds this week. Two hostile witnesses took the stand before senators. Their accounts pointed toward the Vice President.
The numbers alone stunned many ordinary people. Millions in cash moved with startling ease. That unease framed everything the witnesses said.
Gina Acosta held a sensitive OVP post. She served as its Special Disbursing Officer. That role covered withdrawing and releasing funds. Public money passed through her careful hands.
She withdrew ₱125 million in December 2022. Those were confidential funds under her charge. The amount alone drew audible gasps.
She released the cash to one man. Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica received the money. He worked with the Vice President’s security group. The handover happened outside normal channels. That choice would haunt the later questioning.
Duterte herself had ordered the release, she said. That single line carried enormous weight. It tied the Vice President to the cash.
The prosecution welcomed such a direct link.
Yet Acosta leaned on Lachica for records. He handled implementation and documentation, she explained. She trusted his account of the spending.
She admitted uncertainty about his real authority. She did not know his proper mandate. She knew little about the funded activities. The ₱125 million moved beyond her sight. Those gaps troubled the watching senators.
The court declared Acosta a hostile witness. Her ties to the office shaped that ruling. Prosecutors then asked leading questions freely. Her answers exposed thin records and loose monitoring.
Senator Erwin Tulfo pressed her at length. He noted her difficulty answering in Filipino. He flagged odd names and signatures on receipts.
Those acknowledgment receipts drew sharp attention. Tulfo asked why she never questioned them. Senator Tito Sotto probed the rapid releases. Millions moved out in very little time. The ₱125 million to Lachica stood central.
Sotto questioned how such speed was possible. The senators examined her duties as officer. They weighed Lachica’s authority to hold funds. Their questions widened the gaps in her account.
Documentation and liquidation concerns grew louder still. The paper trail looked thinner by the hour.
Her words helped the prosecution build its case. They suggested Duterte’s hand in the release. Still, questions clung to her own role.
The recipients’ authority remained genuinely unclear. Compliance with government rules stayed in doubt.
Her testimony alone proved no legal liability. It offered evidence toward a larger picture. The senators would weigh it against more.
Some saw a loyal officer caught between orders. Others saw a system built for shadows. The truth likely sat somewhere between them.
Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio followed on the stand. He served as an OVP Assistant Chief of Staff. He reported directly to the Vice President. His post gave him close, daily knowledge. That access made his words weigh heavily.
The court also declared him a hostile witness. His employment ties drove that decision.
Prosecutors gained room to lead him along. He answered with careful, measured words.
Ortonio said Duterte knew about the funds. He said she authorized their use too. That claim echoed the prosecution’s core theory.
The OVP requested ₱250 million in 2022. Officials released it in two large tranches. Each tranche reached ₱125 million in cash. Ortonio traced that flow for the court. His account matched Acosta’s earlier testimony.
Ortonio joined Acosta during the cash encashment. He helped move some of the money. He witnessed its transport with his own eyes. That gave him firsthand knowledge of events.
He also answered Commission on Audit findings. The COA had raised pointed observations. Ortonio helped craft the office’s reply.
One admission unsettled the whole chamber. He submitted intelligence reports he never read. They reached him inside sealed envelopes, he said. He passed them to auditors still sealed. Prosecutors seized on that telling detail.
The paperwork behind the funds looked shaky. Supporting documents invited real suspicion now. Sealed envelopes stood for a deeper problem. Accountability seemed to slip through the cracks.
Another revelation deepened the day’s unease. Ortonio gave ₱150,000 of his own money. He tried to close a troubling gap.
That amount covered a liquidation discrepancy. The books had not balanced properly. He reached into his own pocket. Nobody had reimbursed him, he testified. The detail sharpened every accountability concern.
The senators questioned Ortonio about the audit. Senator Raffy Tulfo asked why probes stalled. The office had not dug deeper afterward. That inaction puzzled several senator-judges.
Senator Camille Villar weighed the findings’ scope. The memorandum proved nothing conclusive, she noted. It raised concerns yet stopped short of crimes.
Senator Ping Lacson turned to the recipients. He studied documents naming those allegedly paid. Those names raised fresh, difficult questions. The senators flagged Lachica as an outsider. He held no post within the OVP.
An outsider had handled millions in cash. That fact deepened the questions around authority. His mandate over the money stayed murky. The senators pressed that point with care.
From Mindanao, the trial feels far and near. The Senate sits in distant Manila halls. The accused belongs to our own soil. Both witnesses came to court as hostile ones. Both still handed the prosecution useful material.
Their words placed Duterte near the funds. Their gaps left the full picture unfinished.
Two hostile witnesses had shaped the record. Each gave the prosecution something to hold. Each also revealed a system full of holes. The confidential funds still hid their full story.
Atty. Mae Divinagracia, a fellow law professor in Ateneo de Manila Law School and Ateneo de Naga College of Law, stood out as the perfect prosecutor.
Her questions drew clean admissions with calm precision, moved in a clear, patient order. She built each point on the last one. She rarely raised her voice at all. Precision seemed to be her steady weapon.
Atty Mae treated the witnesses with firm respect. Her tone stayed measured through long hours. She turned tangled answers into clear lines.
Tomorrow brings more witnesses and more questions. The confidential funds will surface again soon. The senators will keep pressing for answers. Mindanao will keep watching, patient and uneasy.
Originally published in MindaNews on August 29, 2026.
