by Diego Morra
Gina Acosta’s testimony on Aug. 24, 2026 before the Senate impeachment court established the fact that it was Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio who ordered that the four tranches of P125-million each which Sara illegally described as her “confidential fund” (with the first tranche of P125-million certainly unlawful since she was, by law, still using the balance of the 2022 budget of former Vice President Leni Robredo) be released to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
Lachica was not a designated special disbursing officer (SDO), was not technically organic to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and his salary and other emoluments come from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the commander of newly-minted Vice-Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), which became the special unit that Sara organized to protect herself and her family. VPSPG competes with the Presidential Security Group (PSG) that was organized to protect the president, vice president and Cabinet members. No less than 478 soldiers comprise the VPSPG, which is far bigger than the security ring around President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.
Illegality also surrounds the role of Acosta herself, who became a trusted Sara aide despite lacking the credentials of an SDO. If this were the case, Sara chose her to be SDO since she never questioned the illegal acts of her boss from when she was the queen of Davao City, and this explains why from the original sin in Davao City, the scandalous modus operandi took root in the Mandaluyong City haunts of OVP. As the loyal underling, Acosta could always feign innocence on the goings-on as far as the huge CF for Davao City administration was concerned.
The city’s CF was huge, from P293-million in 2017, P420-million the following year, and P460-million annually from 2019 to 2022, beating the CFs far richer cities in Luzon and the Visayas. All told, the perennially flooded Davao City had P2.697-million in six years. Acosta didn’t know what happened to the money? Selective amnesia won’t save her. Then, there are other issues in Davao City, from the decades of Rodrigo Duterte misrule, when justice eluded those murdered by Ampatuan hitmen in pubs and right at hospital operating rooms, and decades of overpriced garbage disposal contracts that cost the city P1-million a day.
The modus operandi in Davao City was certainly replicated at the OVP with Sara at the helm as she took with her a cadre of her loyal staffers like Acosta, the Fajarda couple (Edward Fajarda claims that he had a brain stroke and should be excused from testifying; if he got any of the two types of brain stroke, ischemic and hemorrhagic, he won’t be able to write a letter to the court since has to be in ICU) and others who handled the finances in both OVP and DepEd, which Sara headed for two years and abandoned posthaste after instigating a fight with her campaign manager, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. The basis? A row at the House of Representatives that caused the “demotion” of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and which Sara used as an excuse to protect her political godmother from harm.
As earlier pointed out by witnesses from COA, there were no confirmations of the disbursements, no receipts for purchases of medicines, food, equipment and others that were charged to the CF, mistakes on the dates and places, dubious names and similarities of signatures that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) graphologists confirmed were done by one person, leading to disallowances owing to irregularities and rampant violations of COA rules.
Sentral sa usapin ng scam nila Sara ang pagbibigay ng pera ng CF sa mga militar na pipirma sa acknowledgment receipts na babawiin din matapos makita ni Acosta. Mula pa pala sa Davao City ay ganito na rin pala ang ginagawa nila, subalit ayon kay Acosta ay di sila sinita ng COA sa lungsod. Kung ganito rin lang ang gawain nila, maaaring mula sa bilyun-bilyong CF nanggaling ang salaping ginugol para sa Duterte Death Squads (DDS) at sa sinasabing 11,000 tauhan na maaaring gamitin ng political dynasty bilang private army.
Walang lusot si Sara kung ebidensya ang magiging batayan ng desisyon ng impeachment court. Pirmado niya ang mga ulat sa disbursements, pati ang palsipikadong gastusan sa doble o tripleng na “intelligence operations” para sa kanyang seguridad mismo sa Davao City. Iba ang budget ng VPSPG kayat ilegal ang kanyang paggugol. Sertipikado rin ng OVP and pekeng disbursements noong Disyembre 13, 2022 na pilit na isinasalpak sa pondo na inilabas lamang noong Disyembre 22, 2022, ayon kay Kabataan Rep. Renee Co. Ang guguling ito ay illegal, sabi ng COA.#
