Sara camp dared: Present Mary Grace Piattos to impeach trial

Members of the House Prosecution team challenged the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte to present the controversial figure, “Mary Grace Piattos” to her upcoming impeachment trial, which was crucial in the discussions to the misuse of confidential funds.

Manila Rep. Joel Chua confirmed earlier reports that Mary Grace Piattos was included in the list submitted by the House prosecutors through their pre-trial brief as a material witness.

Chua explained that the inclusion of the person was to see if there would be anyone that would come forward to state that they were the individual that signed the numerous documents concerning the disbursement of the multimillion peso funding.

“They are a material witness, particularly in the confidential funds issue. If they do not appear, it means that they are bogus. If they appear, we can cross examine them,” he said in Filipino.

Asked about the possibility of the defense questioning the inclusion of the name, Chua argued that Mary Grace Piattos was clearly indicated as one of the people that received confidential funds.

The solon further rejected the notion that the person could merely be a code name that was used, noting that regardless of whether the name was real or not, the individual behind the name should be presented.

“They should reveal whoever it really is. That is the only way to settle this issue once and for all,” he said.

‘Smoking Gun’

Offering his own take on the matter, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon expressed that the potential presentation of Mary Grace Piattos during the trial was the “smoking gun” in the allegations linked to the issue of the misuse of government funds.

Ridon said that the allegations entirely revolved on the name that was first presented during a House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability in 2024.

“The existence or non-existence of Mary Grace Piattos, that is the smoking gun whether or not the use of the confidential funds were valid or not,” he said.

“Mary Grace Piattos is important because the controversy revolves around her, when it comes to the use of confidential funds,” he added.

The solon maintained that even the Commission on Audit (COA) identified that the confidential funds were not properly used since it has annually required the Vice President to return amounts from the P612.5 million confidential funds issued to both the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

Aside from Mary Grace Piattos, Ridon mentioned that they had also included DepEd and OVP official Michael Poa as one of their witnesses in the upcoming trial because of his familiarity with the operations of the said agencies.

Notably, Poa is currently a member of the defense counsel for Duterte.