The art of playing dumb
Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo to hostile witness Gina Acosta: “How would you describe yourself, smart, average, or stupid?” This should be a question for hostile witnesses who play forgetful and dumb, who feign stupidity in order to wiggle out of prosecution lawyers’ questions during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
This week, on Day 17 of the impeachment trial, we had a ringside view of hostile witness Acosta responding to the questions of prosecution lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan related to how millions of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) were disbursed to security officer Col. Raymund Lachica of the OVP Special Security Group. There were no sales invoices or official receipts from the intended recipients with strange names (“fruit salad” and “grocery list” names), but with, aha! similar signatures or handwriting styles. Only acknowledgement receipts.
Lachica is not officially part of the staff of the OVP but is with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, but his role in the disbursements of the OVP’s confidential funds seems enormous. It seems the buck stops with him and the VP. Will Lachica be called to testify? Why or why not? Where is he? Will he become the fall guy or a star witness?
Acosta, special disbursing officer (SDO) from the OVP who had earlier testified on how she withdrew cash in the millions from a Landbank branch and how the prosecution lawyer made her describe the withdrawal process step by step, made our jaws drop to the floor for the sheer enormity of the cold cash involved and where it might have gone afterward. If Acosta’s demeanor and manner of answering questions were meant to arouse pity, and if her handlers, if any, had coaxed her to sound that way, their intentions did not turn out to be very convincing. To describe Acosta’s way of expressing herself as annoying and irritating is an understatement.
Was Acosta feigning being dumb and unable to understand Filipino or English? I could not believe that she had difficulty understanding and speaking basic Filipino, never mind if it was with a Visayan accent. Most Filipinos living in the hinterlands and who had survived World War II can speak and understand Filipino, our national language. Acosta must have been working in the melting pot that is Metro Manila and in the OVP for several years now and, before that, also as SDO for six or so years in the office of Sara Duterte when she was Davao City mayor. Davao City is multilingual. Pastilan, August is Buwan ng Wika, I could have yelled. But Acosta maintained her kaluoy demeanor.
Then she was reminded that at the House committee on good governance hearing the year before, she had expressed herself more understandably in Filipino. Suddenly, here she was, with twisted tongue and all, looking theatrically bewildered.
Exasperated, Tulfo had to ask her point-blank: “How would you consider yourself, smart, average, or stupid?” to which Acosta replied that she was just average. Tulfo asked why she did not question the strange names on the acknowledgment receipts, among them, Belat, Pagong, Pusa. But she said she only relied on security officer Lachica, who told her that those were “sensitive information and confidential in nature.” Lachica was the implementor on the ground, she kept saying, as if to extricate herself from it all, from a rock and a hard place, from her boss, the VP, and a man named Lachica.
Tulfo had to ask if she was “stupid in the name of blind loyalty. Sounding discombobulated, Acosta asked, “Ano po yun?” adding, “Am sorry, your honor, I cannot understand.”
Tulfo, who began his exchange with Acosta with “Have you eaten, ano imo sud-an? (what dish did you have?)” to put her at ease, but did not get enough cooperation, ended with a stern “Ayaw lagi pagtinonto ma’am” loosely translated as “Don’t give us that stupid or brazen reply.” Pagtinonto comes from the Spanish word tonto or fool.
Feigning ignorance or playing dumb or stupid is not uncommon among witnesses who are questioned and who fear they might end up with incriminating answers. They seek refuge in forgetfulness or, if coaxed adequately, could play dumb or feign stupidity. But, if not really dumb as they intend to project themselves, they are quickly unmasked, and worse, caught lying and falsifying, alas, finding themselves sinking in the quicksand of their own making. A lie can lead to another lie and so forth and so on.
There are ways to handle evasive witnesses who play dumb. Leading questions from the prosecution or defense lawyers can throw them off guard by confronting them with documents and previous statements. In short, you can’t fake it, Baby!
In God’s time, what is hidden will be laid bare.
—————-
Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com
