Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Col. Raymund Dante Lachica in February 2024. Armed Forces of the Philippines Security and Protection Group

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ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787556184955Lachica-1.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Col. Raymund Dante Lachica in February 2024. Armed Forces of the Philippines Security and Protection Group</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Former Office of the Vice President special disbursing officer Gina Acosta&#x27;s testimony at the<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/sara-duterte-impeachment-trial"> impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte</a> wrapped up with more questions for Army Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, former head of Duterte&#x27;s security and who allegedly implemented the office&#x27;s confidential activities.</p><p>Senators Francis &quot;Chiz&quot; Escudero and Joel Villanueva said at separate times during the trial that they would be interested to hear from Lachica, who distributed money that Acosta had disbursed to him.</p><p>Escudero, presiding officer, said that the court cannot compel parties to present certain witnesses but pointed out that Lachica &quot;was starring&quot; in Acosta&#x27;s testimony but is not yet scheduled to testify.</p><p>&quot;At some point, do we expect that to happen?&quot;</p><p>The prosecution has listed him as a potential witness, but has yet to decide on whether it will call him and when.</p><p>Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro, lead prosecutor, said the panel has to revisit its list of witnesses to present but acknowledged Escudero&#x27;s point</p><p>During a break in the trial, Bukidnon Second District Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores of the House prosecution team, said &quot;whether Lachica trestifies or not, it’s already admitted&quot; that the SDO did not actually release the money herself.</p><p>He said that would affect the certifications the OVP submitted to the Commission on Audit on its use of confidential funds.</p><p>He added prosecution is also weighing whether calling Lachica, who is subject to investigations by the Office of the Ombudsman and the armed forces, would prolong trial.</p><p>&quot;We’re fighting against time also,&quot; he said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/24/acosta-says-she-relied-on-lachica-documents-to-verify-ovp-confidential-fund-use-1309"><strong>Acosta says she relied on Lachica, documents to verify OVP confidential fund use</strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>MISSING DETAILS</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Acosta repeatedly said on Monday that she had trusted Lachica to implement the confidential activities since Duterte had designated him to do it.</p><p>She said she had asked about details like missing names, dates and signatures on acknowledgement receipts he submitted for liquidation.</p><p>She said Lachica told her that those were the only details he could give on &quot;sensitive information that are confidential in nature.&quot;</p><p>He also repeatedly said during examination by the prosecution that she was not there when Lachica supposedly used the money since she was &quot;not on the ground&quot;, had no access to intelligence information, and was not an expert on it like the colonel is.</p><p>She said she only checked whether the acknowledgement receipts and utilization reports that Lachica submitted matched and were within the guidelines of Joint Circular 2015-01 on confidential and intelligence funds.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/24/acosta-says-she-relied-on-lachica-documents-to-verify-ovp-confidential-fund-use-1309"><strong>Acosta says she relied on Lachica, docs to verify OVP confidential fund use </strong></a></div><p>Atty. Armando Virgil Ligutan, counsel for the prosecutors, called Acosta&#x27;s repeated responses a &quot;canned answer&quot; </p><p>The former SDO acknowledged, however, that she and Duterte had signed certification on the “correctness” of data in the liquidation documents that the &quot;purpose of the cash advance was duly accomplished.&quot;</p><p>During questions from senators, Acosta said she relied on Lachica&#x27;s submissions and on Duterte&#x27;s designation of him to implement the confidential activities.</p><p>This prompted Villanueva to comment that the documents seem to only have &quot;passed through her hands&quot; without her making any input or decisions on them.</p><p>&quot;Basta, your honor, ginagawa ko yung trabaho ko as SDO,&quot; he said.</p><p>(Your honor, I just did my job as SDO.)</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/17/wrap-confidential-funds-released-to-ovp-security-chief-as-duterte-ordered-acosta-2027"><strong>Confidential funds released to OVP security chief as Duterte ordered — Acosta<br/></strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;I AM THE ACCOUNTABLE OFFICER&#x27;</strong></div><p>Sen. Risa Hontiveros pointed out that some have raised that since Acosta was SDO and the payee of the cash advances, she should be the only one who should be held accountable for them.</p><p>Acosta agreed and, when pressed on being held to account for unexplained spending, she stressed that Lachica had been assigned to implement the activities.</p><p>Asked if her being accountable even if she did not make any decisions is fair, she replied: &quot;Alam ko po na alam ni Ma&#x27;am Vice President Sara Duterte ang ginagawa niya.&quot;</p><p>(I know that Ma&#x27;am Vice President Sara Duterte knew what she was doing.)</p><p>Sen. Imee Marcos, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/5/wrap-tense-exchanges-as-state-auditor-wamil-wraps-up-testimony-2145">who had floated the proposition that the SDO is the only accountable officer</a> in a government agency, then asked Acosta to confirm whether Duterte herself received the money, submitted the acknowledgement receipts or checked the liquidation documents herself.</p><p>Acosta said the vice president did none of those things. <strong> </strong></p><div><strong><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/24/prosecution-confronts-acosta-on-selective-memory-language-difficulty-1443">Prosecution confronts Acosta on &#x27;selective memory&#x27;, language difficulty </a></strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uG0FvVm3xkU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Former Office of the Vice President Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta's testimony at the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte wrapped up with more questions for Army Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, former head of Duterte's security and who allegedly implemented confidential activities.</p>

Former Office of the Vice President Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta's testimony at the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte wrapped up with more questions for Army Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, former head of Duterte's security and who allegedly implemented confidential activities.

WRAP: OVP staff member Acosta’s testimony raises more questions for ex-security chief Lachica

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WRAP: OVP staff member Acosta’s testimony raises more questions for ex-security chief Lachica

Jonathan de Santos,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 24, 2026 04:00 PM PHT

|

Updated August 25, 2026 09:08 AM PHT

Read More:

Raymund Dante Lachica

Gina Acosta

Impeachment

Sara Duterte

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