MORE unusual names surfaced on Monday in the acknowledgement receipts for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds, as the House of Representatives impeachment prosecution team questioned whether former special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta could personally verify that the purported recipients actually received the money.
Among those named in receipts presented during Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s impeachment trial were ‘Antonio Pagong,’ ‘Timon Andrew Pusa,’ ‘Don Piang,’ ‘Shane Ngitngit,’ and ‘Xuniso P. Belat.’
The receipts reflected payments ranging from P100,000 to P250,000 for expenses such as the purchase of information and rental of vehicles.
House prosecution counsel Amando Virgil Ligutan first confronted Acosta, testifying as a hostile witness, with an acknowledgment receipt bearing the name Antonio Pagong.
The document indicated that Pagong received P100,000 for the purchase of information.
Asked whether she personally saw Col. Raymund Dante Lachica give the money to Pagong, Acosta said she did not.
‘I didn’t see him, Your Honor, because I wasn’t on the ground. He was the one who implemented it, Your Honor,’ Acosta testified.
Another receipt named Timon Andrew Pusa as having received P100,000 for the rental of a transport vehicle, while Don Piang was listed as receiving P250,000 for transport rental.
A receipt under Shane Ngitngit’s name reflected P150,000, while another bearing the name Xuniso P. Belat indicated a P100,000 confidential fund payment.
Acosta repeatedly said she did not witness Lachica make the payments.
‘I didn’t see it, Your Honor, because I wasn’t on the ground,’ Acosta said when asked about the payment bearing Ngitngit’s name.
The names add to the scrutiny surrounding purported recipients of the OVP’s confidential funds, most notably Mary Grace Piattos, whose name appeared on acknowledgment receipts submitted to support the office’s expenditures.
Piattos became a central figure in the earlier House investigation after lawmakers questioned her identity and even offered a P1-million reward for information that could lead them to her. Her name appeared on multiple acknowledgment receipts covering OVP confidential fund expenditures.
Monday’s testimony did not establish whether Pagong, Pusa, Piang, Ngitngit, and Belat are real or fictitious individuals.
It established, however, that Acosta, the accountable SDO, had no personal knowledge that Lachica actually handed the amounts reflected in the receipts to the people named in them.
Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero put the issue directly to Acosta.
‘You have no personal knowledge that the money was actually given to those people or actually spent on supplies?’ Escudero asked.
‘None, Your Honor,’ Acosta replied.
Acosta said she instead relied on Lachica, whom Duterte had designated to implement the OVP’s confidential activities, and on the documents he provided to account for the expenditures.
She also admitted that she sought verification from Lachica himself.
‘I verified it with him, Your Honor. I asked him, Your Honor,’ Acosta said.
Ligutan then asked whether, among all the people she could have consulted to verify Lachica’s representations, Acosta turned to the same person who supplied the documents.
‘Yes, Your Honor,’ she replied.
Acosta said Lachica told her the documents he provided were proof that the confidential funds had been spent and that the underlying operations were sensitive and confidential.
The receipts were among the documents used to account for confidential funds that Acosta had released to Lachica.
Acosta testified on Monday that she released four P125-million cash tranches totaling P500 million to Lachica from December 2022 through the third quarter of 2023.
She also confirmed that Lachica was not fidelity-bonded, while she remained the accountable officer for the funds.
The testimony forms part of the House prosecution’s presentation on the first article of impeachment involving Duterte’s alleged misuse and irregular liquidation of confidential funds.