The confirmation by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that it has no record of a “Mary Grace Piattos” in its database has sparked calls for the agency to check if the other supposed recipients of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds really exist.

Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V said Wednesday this “serious red flag” necessitates a cross-check by the PSA to determine if the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (CoA) were legitimate or irregular.

“The certification from the PSA opens up a Pandora’s box of potential anomalies,” Ortega said. “This isn’t an isolated case. If a fabricated name was used to justify millions of pesos in spending, it undermines the integrity of public accountability. It also raises the question of how many more fake names might be buried in those ARs?”

The PSA informed the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability that keying in the name “Mary Grace Piattos” turned up a “negative record of birth,” as well as of marriage and death in its database.

The committee had sought PSA assistance to ascertain if “Piattos” really existed amid speculation the name came from a popular local café and a brand of potato chips.

“Piattos” was one of the thousands of supposed recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s P125 million in confidential funds, having signed an AR dated 30 December 2022. She reportedly obtained the biggest chunk of the funds.

Ortega was one with his peers in saying that the supposed bogus AR signed by “Piattos” may only be the “tip of the iceberg.”

“We can’t stop at one. The PSA’s findings should serve as a springboard to conduct a deeper investigation. if one name was falsified, it is not unreasonable to suspect that other receipts may also contain fictitious names,” Ortega pointed out.

“If ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ is a myth, what else is false in these documents? We need to ensure that every peso spent is accounted for and supported by truthful, verifiable records,” he stressed.

Tingog Rep. Jude Acidre and Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman had earlier warned of a possible scheme to falsify the financial records of the OVP, which Ortega said could point to systemic fraud.

The OVP’s special disbursing officer, Gina Acosta, claimed there were people surnamed “Piattos” in her hometown of Davao City, where Vice President Duterte once served as mayor.

House lawmakers asserted the ARs were “highly suspicious,” citing irregularities in the documents, including identical ink signatures and incorrect dates, unsigned ARs, missing names, and “spurious” names like “Piattos.”

They said the ARs were likely fabricated or hurriedly submitted to the Commission on Audit.

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 any fund misuse, calling the House probe a “well-funded” and “coordinated political attack” aimed at setting her up for impeachment.

She claimed she had not seen the ARs where the name “Mary Grace Piattos” appeared.