Prosecution: OVP can conduct tree planting activities sans confidential funds

The House prosecution panel on Monday said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) could seemingly conduct tree-planting activities without any untoward incident even if confidential funds were not used.

Private prosecutor Amando Ligutan said this on the 17th day of the impeachment trial, as he presented a screenshot of a post on August 13, 2026, showing Vice President joining a tree-planting activity in Nunungan, Lanao del Norte under the OVP’s PagbaBAGo: A Million Trees Campaign.

Ligutan then asked former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta, a hostile witness fielded by the House prosecution panel, if the OVP has confidential funds in 2026 for it to conduct such a tree-planting activity.

Acosta said there is none.

“And despite that, despite the absence of confidential funds nakapag-tree planting, with God’s blessing, nang ligtas, nang walang untoward incident. Tama po ba?” Ligutan asked Acosta.

Defense counsel Lindon Bacquel objected to the prosecution’s line of questioning due to “irrelevance,” saying that the activity conducted this year was not covered by the Articles of Impeachment.

“The point is, there were no confidential funds allocated [in 2026], and the Vice President was able to conduct one,” Ligutan said.

Acosta said she has no idea of the matter.

To recall, Acosta previously testified that confidential funds were spent on tree-planting activities under the OVP’s good governance programs.

“Ang tree planting po ay kasali sa pinaggastusan ng confidential funds… Before po gawin ang tree planting, ang aming security officer, Your Honor, mag-conduct sila ng surveillance kung safe ba,” she said.

(The tree planting was among the activities funded by the confidential funds... Before the activity is conducted, our security officer would conduct surveillance to determine if it was safe.)

Acosta is a witness for Article 1 of the impeachment case, which accuses the Vice President of committing impeachable offenses due to systematic misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the OVP and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as Education chief. —AOL, GMA News