The House panel investigating alleged funds misuse at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) has requested the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to verify the existence of 677 other supposed recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs).
The request came after the record-keeping agency discovered that “Mary Grace Piattos,” who supposedly signed an acknowledgment receipt (AR) for receiving CIFs, did not appear in any of the civil registry databases and is therefore believed to be a fictitious individual.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua, chair of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, told reporters on Friday that he had sent a formal request to National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa to look into the identities of other AR signatories.
The ARs were used to justify a total of P612.5 million in confidential fund expenditures—P500 million for funds spent by the OVP from late 2022 to the third quarter of 2023, and P112.5 million for the DepEd in 2023.
The PSA has been requested to expedite its verification process and submit both electronic and hard copies of the results to the Committee.
“May we request for the verification of the Civil Registry Documents (birth, marriage, and death) of the names in the attached list relative to the investigation being conducted by the Committee,” Chua wrote in his letter dated December 5.
Last week, the PSA issued certification confirming no birth, marriage, or death records for Piattos, prompting significant concerns about the authenticity of the listed beneficiaries and the legitimacy of the disbursements.
“This is deeply troubling. If these two names don’t exist in official records, we have to question whether the other 677 names are legitimate or if they are part of a wider scheme to misuse funds,” Chua said.
He said the verification process is a critical step in determining the validity of the ARs and ensuring accountability in the use of public funds.
“If even one peso was spent improperly, it is our responsibility to find out and hold those responsible to account,” Chua pointed out.
The name “Mary Grace Piattos” gained attention during the House hearings due to its resemblance to a popular restaurant and snack brand, raising doubts about its authenticity.
Lawmakers discovered discrepancies in the signatures linked to this name across different documents, fueling concerns about possible forgery.
