House offers P1M ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ bounty

Members of the House of Representatives have offered P1 million to anyone who can provide leads on Mary Grace Piattos, one of the signatories on documents pertaining to the use of millions of pesos in confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

According to Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, members of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability and the House Quad Committee raised the bounty in an effort to have Piattos attend the next congressional hearing.

“Because we want this committee hearing to be over, we have offered a reward of P1 million to anyone who can provide information on Mary Grace Piattos,” said Khonghun, vice chair of the good government panel, in a briefing on Monday.

“We want to know if there is any truth to the identity of Mary Grace Piattos, because we don’t believe that Mary Grace Piattos really exists,” he added.

The name Mary Grace Piattos was signed on the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (CoA) to justify the expenditure of P612.5 million in confidential funds that Vice President Duterte received in 2022 and 2023.

Of the sum, P112.5 million was allocated to the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure as its secretary.

During the fourth inquiry of the good government panel on 5 November, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop questioned one of the ARs dated 30 December 2022 which bore the name Piattos, which he suggested was a combination of the name of a popular restaurant and a potato chips brand.

CoA auditor Gloria Camora confirmed that Duterte’s office submitted 787 ARs with no names but only signatures, 302 ARs with unreadable names, and five ARs bearing the same name.

Lawmakers questioned the authenticity of the ARs, noting that some had incorrect dates, fueling suspicions the documents were fabricated or hastily prepared to justify the expenditure of the confidential funds.