House panel asks PSA to verify 677 other 'recipients' of Duterte's secret funds

The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability has requested the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to verify the civil registry records of 677 supposed recipients of millions of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Vice President Sara Duterte’s stint as secretary.

Panel chairperson Joel Chua sent a letter to National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa following revelations that “Mary Grace Piattos,” who reportedly received the largest chunk of the funds, had no records of birth, marriage, or death certificates in the PSA’s database.

“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 5 December.

On Wednesday, PSA Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande confirmed that no records were found for Kokoy Villamin, another named recipient in the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted by Duterte’s office to the Commission on Audit (CoA).

Previous congressional hearings revealed that Villamin’s handwriting and signatures varied across multiple ARs from both the OVP and DepEd.

The ARs were used to justify a total of P612.5 million in confidential fund expenditures — P500 million for the OVP from late 2022 to the third quarter of 2023 and P112.5 million for the DepEd in 2023.

The funds are under scrutiny amid allegations of fund mismanagement in the OVP and DepEd.

Chua said the non-existence of Piattos in PSA records is “deeply troubling,” warranting the verification of the other 677 supposed recipients of the funds. The lawmaker expressed concern that these alleged persons may be part of a “wider scheme to misuse funds.”

“If even one peso was spent improperly, it is our responsibility to find out and hold those responsible to account,” Chua stressed.

The name “Mary Grace Piattos” has drawn public attention, with some suspecting she was named after a popular local restaurant café and a brand of potato chips.

House lawmakers have said the ARs were “highly suspicious,” citing irregularities such as identical ink signatures, incorrect dates, some ARs being unsigned or missing names, and mostly bearing "spurious" names, such as that of Piattos.

They alleged that the ARs were likely fabricated or hastily submitted to the CoA.

The committee aims to determine whether the names in the ARs belong to legitimate individuals or were fabricated to justify fund disbursements.

Chua requested the PSA to expedite its verification process and submit both electronic and hard copies of the results to the committee.