THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday said it has no records of “Kokoy Villamin,” one of the alleged signatories in the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) as liquidation documents to the Commission on Audit (COA) to support its disbursement of hundreds of millions in confidential funds.
“Wala po kaming nakitang record din pertaining to that person,” PSA Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande told TeleRadyo. “Negative po ‘yun sa verification namin.”
Grande, however, acknowledged that “Kokoy” could only be Villamin’s nickname even as she stressed that full names should be used in official documents, especially birth certificates.
The PSA, in a letter to the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, has earlier said that it has no records of one “Mary Grace Piattos,” another signatory to the ARs submitted by the OVP related to its confidential funds expenditure.
During the committee’s hearing last month, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto questioned two ARs, one for the OVP and one for DepEd, after he noticed that these were both received by Villamin.
Adiong presented a receipt dated September 17, 2023, where Villamin appeared as the recipient of funds from the OVP, and another receipt from the DepEd which bore the same name but had a different signature. He said the first name also appears to be just a nickname.
While the DepEd receipt did not show a date, it was also clearly signed by a person of the same name, who appeared to be from Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental.
The two receipts bore two different signatures, both under Villamin’s name.
Lawmakers have aired the belief that Villamin is a fabricated name and that his signature was falsified.
Congressmen and netizens have earlier questioned the existence of Piattos whose name appeared in the OVP’s receipts, saying she could be a made-up figure whose first name – Mary Grace – could have been taken from the name of a popular cafe diner, while the surname Piattos could have come from a known local potato chips snack brand.
In a certification dated November 25, 2024 submitted to the good government panel, the PSA said any search for Mary Grace Piattos in its Civil Registry System (CRS) database on the Certificate of Live Birth (COLB), Certificate of Marriage (COM), and Certificate of Death (COD) yielded a “negative” response, confirming the lawmakers’ suspicions.
Grande said the PSA, however, could still search further for a civil registry document if it will receive additional information such as the names of Piattos’ parents.
There are also other suspected fictitious names that have appeared as signatories in the 158 acknowledgment receipts that were attached to the liquidation reports submitted by the OVP to the COA to justify the disbursement of the P125 million confidential funds that were allegedly spent in just 11 days in 2022.
Lawmakers believe that the OVP and the DepEd, which Vice President Sara Duterte headed as concurrent education secretary before her resignation last July, may have falsified acknowledgment receipts and invented fictitious names to liquidate its confidential fund expenditures after the COA issued adverse audit observations about their spending.
‘VERIFY NAMES’
La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V called on the PSA to verify all names listed in the acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP, saying there is a need for the agency to conduct a comprehensive review after confirming that Piattos and Villamin do not exist.
“The revelation that Mary Grace Piattos is a fictitious identity raises serious red flags. The PSA must immediately audit and verify all the names appearing in the ARs submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit,” Ortega said in a statement.
Ortega warned that the use of a fabricated identity in official documents “could point to systemic fraud.”
“This isn’t just 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: how many more fake names might be buried in those ARs?” he said.
“The PSA’s findings should serve as a springboard to conduct a deeper investigation. The Filipino people deserve transparency and accountability, especially in the use of public funds,” he also said.
Ortega said the certification from the PSA “opens up a Pandora’s box of potential anomalies.” “If one name was falsified, it is not unreasonable to suspect that other receipts may also contain fictitious names,” he said.
