OVP's withdrawal of huge amounts of cash 'unusual' — ex-LandBank manager

The withdrawals of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) of huge amounts of cash totaling P500 million were "unusual," former Landbank department manager Violeta Constantino said during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Constantino, a witness presented by the House prosecution panel, was referring to four checks of P125 million each, which were encashed by OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta between December 2022 and July 2023.

Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo asked if such transactions by a government agency were considered normal, and if Constantino—who worked in state-run LandBank for 32 years—had ever seen other agencies make similar transactions.

"Wala po. Unusual po ito," Constantino answered.

(None, sir. These were unusual.)

Tulfo further asked if the bank inquired when the withdrawals were made regarding the purpose of the cash.

"Kasi po may advice naman na po siya, so kumbaga dumaan naman po ito sa proseso nila kaya I don't think po na magtanong pa kami," Constantino said.

(There was already an advice, so I guess it went through their process so I didn't think we needed to ask anymore.)

"Wala na pong exemption kaya lang po itong sa particular na transaction ng OVP, bale mayroon naman kasi silang fino-forward na advice sa branch," she added.

(There is no exemption anymore, but for this particular transaction, the OVP already forwarded advice to the branch.)

Constantino also said she had no idea that the withdrawals would be used for confidential funds.

Senator-Judge Bam Aquino then asked if the branch reported such "unusual" transactions to authorities.

"I'm sorry, Your Honor, may we invoke po 'yung AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) rule na hindi po kami pwedeng mag-disclose any information po regarding sa reporting," Constantino said.

(I'm sorry, Your Honor, may we invoke the AMLC rule stating that we cannot disclose any information regarding the reporting.)

The former LandBank official, however, affirmed that all transactions of more than P500,000, whether by private individual or government employee, were reported to the AMLC. — VDV, GMA News