Impeachment
Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial: What Days 16, 17 and 18 Established
The trial's confidential funds phase turned to insiders. The court declared two Office of the Vice President staff members hostile witnesses, one who said she handed 125 million pesos in cash to the vice president's security chief, and another who testified that Duterte knew about and approved how the money was used. This recap covers Days 16 to 18, August 17, 24, and 25.
Key takeaways
- The hostile witness testimony put an insider account of the cash handling on the record, including a claim that Duterte approved the spending, while the paper trail for where the money went stayed thin.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a hostile witness, and why did it matter this week?
A hostile witness is one the court finds uncooperative or aligned with the other side, which lets the party that called them ask leading questions. The prosecution called two Office of the Vice President staff members, Gina Acosta and Lemuel Ortonio, and the impeachment court declared both hostile. That status let House prosecutors press them directly on how the confidential funds were released and spent, though presiding officer Francis Escudero reminded the panel that leading questions are allowed while misleading ones are not.
Day 16: A Hostile Witness and 125 Million Pesos in Cash
The court reconvened on Monday, August 17, and the prosecution called Gina Acosta, a former special disbursing officer at the Office of the Vice President who still works there. She was the sixth witness on Article I, the alleged misuse of confidential funds. The court declared her a hostile witness after Escudero asked whether she would keep her job if Duterte were removed, and she said she would not, since her post ends when the vice president leaves office.
Acosta testified that Duterte, as head of the office, ordered her to release 125 million pesos in confidential funds to a designated security officer in the last quarter of 2022. That officer, she said, was Colonel Raymund Lachica, then the head of the vice president's security group. Acosta said she encashed the check on December 20, 2022 and handed Lachica the full amount in cash the same day, carried in four bags. She said the office set no target accomplishments for the money it received on December 21.
Prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan leaned on Acosta's earlier statements to a 2024 House hearing, reading portions of the transcript to have her affirm the same answers in court. To show the scale, the prosecution displayed prop money and an image generated by artificial intelligence depicting 125 million pesos stuffed into bags. When Escudero asked who her boss was, Acosta answered simply, "si VP," meaning the vice president.
The day had friction of its own. Senator judge Erwin Tulfo lost patience when Acosta appeared to struggle with Filipino and produced a House transcript he said showed her speaking it without trouble the year before. In a lighter turn, prosecutor Lorna Kapunan and defense counsel Kristine Ferrer, who had clashed the week before, hugged before the session. Bad weather cut the day short.
Day 17: Missing Receipts and a Birthday on a Receipt
Acosta returned on Monday, August 24. Pressed for proof that Lachica received the 125 million pesos, she said she no longer had the acknowledgment receipts because they had been returned to him. Asked directly whether she could show he received the funds, she answered, "Wala po," meaning none. The prosecution said it had not decided whether to call Lachica himself, with spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa Jr. noting the risk that a witness could lie and that testimony under oath helps limit that.
Senator judge Erwin Tulfo questioned Acosta about roughly 122 million pesos in medicines that were logged as rewards for informants. Prosecutor Ligutan pressed her on what he called selective memory, after she repeatedly said she could not recall details about confidential funds from Davao City. Acosta also said she did not know why Duterte hired her, first in Davao and later at the office, where she was entrusted with disbursing as much as 500 million pesos.
One receipt drew a sharp reaction from the bench. Senator judge Risa Hontiveros pointed to an acknowledgment receipt bearing the name Clarisse Hontiveros, dated February 24, 2023, which she noted was her own birthday, calling it a very large coincidence. The day also had a human moment, as Acosta broke down when Senator judge Imee Marcos asked about her husband's health. Former Education department disbursing officer Eduard Fajarda was excused after a reported stroke.
Day 18: A Second Insider Says Duterte Approved It
On Tuesday, August 25, the prosecution called Lemuel Ortonio, an assistant chief of staff at the Office of the Vice President, and the court declared him its second hostile witness. His testimony was the week's most direct. Ortonio told the court that Duterte knew about and had authorized the activities tied to the use of the confidential funds under her office.
That answer moved the case a step past the paperwork. The earlier witnesses had described how the money was released and how the receipts were handled. Ortonio, as a senior official inside the office, put the vice president's knowledge and approval on the record, which is the link the prosecution needs if it is to argue that the spending was directed from the top rather than mishandled below her. The defense would test that account when it cross examined him the next sitting day.
What Went Viral, and the Arguments Splitting Your Feed
The cash images traveled fastest. The prop money on the Senate floor and the picture of 125 million pesos in bags, made with artificial intelligence, filled feeds within the hour, along with Acosta's flat answer, si VP, when asked who her boss was. Anti Duterte pages ran the bags and the boss line as proof the money moved on the vice president's orders. Pro Duterte pages ran her Wala po, and the missing receipts, as proof the prosecution still could not show where the cash landed.
The Hontiveros birthday receipt became its own thread, shared as either a smoking gun or a stretch, depending on the page. Ortonio's line that Duterte approved the activities was the most consequential clip, cut by her critics as an admission from inside her own office and dismissed by her defenders as the words of a witness the court had already labeled hostile.
The reader test this week is about weight, not volume. A hostile witness can still tell the truth, and a friendly one can still be wrong, so the label matters less than whether the account holds up under cross examination. Cash on camera proves the money moved. It does not by itself prove a crime, which is the line the trial still has to walk.
What the Hostile Witnesses Settled and What They Did Not
The week put an insider account on the record. The court now has testimony that Duterte ordered 125 million pesos released to her security chief in cash, that the office set no target accomplishments for it, and that a senior aide believed she knew about and approved the spending. That is a stronger version of the prosecution's story than the audit notices alone.
What it did not settle is where the money went. Acosta could not produce receipts showing Lachica received or spent the funds, and the officer at the center of the account had not testified. Until someone traces the cash past the handoff, the defense can argue the gaps cut both ways. Conviction on the confidential funds article still needs at least 16 of the 24 senator judges.
Why Mindanao Is Watching
The insiders on the stand this week were Duterte's own appointees, several with Davao roots, which keeps the case tied to the network she built from the city her family runs. Testimony that the vice president personally directed the cash cuts closer to her than a disputed video did, and that raises the stakes for how the region reads each new witness.
The test in Davao and across Mindanao is whether the hostile witness accounts look like evidence or like pressure on staff whose jobs depend on her. Testimony that survives cross examination will land as due process. Accounts that fall apart under questioning, or names played for effect, will feed the argument already loud in the region that the trial is politics dressed as law. This article covers only Days 16 to 18, from August 17 to August 25.