‘Pagong, Pusa’: More curious names among fund recipients

MANILA, Philippines — More unusual names on the acknowledgment receipts documenting the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) surfaced during the impeachment trial on Monday.

During direct examination, private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan grilled Gina Acosta, a staff member at the OVP who had served as the office’s special disbursing officer (SDO) for confidential funds, whether she could personally verify that the supposed recipients actually received the money.

Among the names who allegedly received payments from the OVP’s confidential funds, based on acknowledgment receipts presented by Ligutan were:• Antonio Pagong, P100,000, purchase of information;• Timon Andrew Pusa, P100,000, payment of rental transport vehicle related to confidential activities;• Don Piang, P250,000, payment of rental transport vehicle related to confidential activities;• Shane Ngitngit, P150,000, purchase of rental of supplies, materials and equipment for confidential operations;• Xuniso P. Belat, P100,000, purchase of information; and• May Pamana, P150,000, purchase of information

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Ligutan questioned Acosta about the documentation and verification of confidential fund disbursements implemented by former OVP security officer Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.

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READ: Sara Duterte ex-security officer invokes confidentiality on secret funds

Asked whether she personally saw Lachica give the money to the supposed recipients, Acosta repeatedly said she did not witness the security officer make the payments.

“I did not see him, Your Honor, because I was not on the ground. He was the one who implemented it,” she said.

READ: Witness: Sara Duterte’s ex-security aide disbursed funds for secret ops

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“You have no personal knowledge that the money was actually given to the people or truly spent for supplies?” impeachment court presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero asked Acosta, who answered in the negative.

Acosta repeatedly insisted that she 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.

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She added that Lachica was authorized to carry out the operations and had the training and expertise for the work.

Senator-judge Bam Aquino asked Acosta regarding the lack of internal investigation into the suspicious recipient names.

“These names have been talked about for more than a year. The OVP has also been scrutinized for more than a year… from that time until now, did you not conduct an internal investigation to check if those names were real, where the true list is, and the real names behind the aliases?” Aquino asked.

Acosta said that no internal investigation or verification was conducted to uncover the real identities behind the aliases. She said she relied entirely on Lachica’s assurance that the details were confidential. 

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Aquino said the Senate would ask Lachica for the master list of the true names behind the receipts once he appears before the impeachment court. /cb