It’s immaterial: Prosecution defends use of AI image in VP Sara trial

It was private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan who showed the AI-generated image during his direct examination of former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta as a hostile witness.

The simulated image was supposed to help the public and the Senate impeachment court grasp the physical scale of the P125 million in confidential funds that Acosta encashed and then released to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica upon the instructions of the respondent, Duterte.

Following an objection from Duterte’s defense team, Ligutan acknowledged that the image was AI-generated because the prosecution panel did not have P125 million in cold cash to photograph.

In a press conference after the hearing, private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. rejected statements that the presentation of the image was intended to mislead the public.

“There was no intention from the prosecution to pretend that those were the actual funds. It was just a visual representation,” Tolosa said.

He said the relevant question was whether or not the demonstrative materials resembled what Acosta saw and carried after encashing the OVP’s P125-million Land Bank check on Dec. 20, 2022.

Acosta told senator-judges that the pictured bags were not identical to the four bags she used, as she cited a difference in their shape and zipper design.

She nevertheless confirmed that the P125 million fit inside four bags, and said the simulated bundles were similar to the cash she received.

“If you used AI or what, it’s immaterial. [It’s] just to show kung gaano talaga karami iyong bulto-bultong pera na pinag-uusapan natin dito,” Tolosa said.  (It’s just to show how much money in bundles we are really talking about here).

The prosecution further clarified that the image were not offered as proof that the exact bags, bundles, or arrangement shown existed; rather, it was to translate a nine-digit figure into a scale that viewers of the livestreamed hearings could understand.

Earlier testimony established that Acosta encashed four authentic OVP checks worth P125 million each between December 2022 and July 2023. A former Land Bank branch manager described the repeated large withdrawals as unusual although not suspicious.

The prosecution’s position was that Lachica–a former Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) chief–had no authority to receive and disburse the confidential funds since he was not an organic employee. Worse, he was not the OVP’s designated SDO. — Ellson Quismorio