PSA confirms no record of 'Mary Grace Piattos'

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has confirmed that Mary Grace Piattos, one of the "recipients" who allegedly received the biggest chunk of the confidential funds of Vice President Sara Duterte's office in 2022, has no record in its database.

In a document submitted to the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, the PSA said Piattos has a "negative record of birth," as well as marriage and death certificates.

It, however, said that it could conduct a further search if additional information such as the name of her parents, date, and place of the event can be provided.

The committee sought the assistance of the PSA to ascertain whether Piattos really exists amid speculation that she could be named after a popular local restaurant café and a brand of potato chips in an attempt to justify the use of multi-million confidential funds.

Piattos was only one of the thousands of alleged recipients of Duterte's P125 million in confidential funds, having signed an acknowledgment receipt (AR) dated 30 December 2022. The amount she obtained, however, has yet to be disclosed.

House lawmakers deemed the ARs “highly suspicious," citing irregularities in the documents, including identical ink signatures, incorrect dates, unsigned ARs, missing names, and mostly, "spurious" names, such as that of Piattos.

They alleged that the ARs were likely fabricated or rushedly submitted to the Commission on Audit.

The panel has earlier raised a P1 million bounty for anyone who can provide leads about Piattos.

In a hearing in late November, Duterte's Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, who rose from Davao, claimed that the surname "Piattos" actually exists in Davao City, where the Vice President once served as mayor.

The P125 million was spent by Duterte's office in merely 11 days in December 2022. Of the sum, P73.287 million was disallowed by CoA due to the lack of "documents evidencing the success of information gathering and/or surveillance activities" for which the funds were allegedly used.

Duterte has repeatedly denied that she was engaged in the supposed misuse of funds, calling the House probe a "well-funded” and “coordinated political attack” aimed at discrediting and impeaching her.

She likewise claimed that she had not seen the ARs where the name “Mary Grace Piattos" supposedly appeared.

The P125 million secret funds were part of the P221.42 million contingent fund of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s office, diverted to Duterte's office as secret funds.

Opposition lawmakers earlier insinuated that the transfer was unconstitutional since there was no line item for it in the 2022 General Appropriations Act.