LAWMAKERS who are investigating Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds believe the Office of the Vice President (OVP) may have fabricated acknowledgment receipts signed by fictitious individuals to liquidate its confidential fund expenditures after the Commission on Audit (COA) issued audit observations.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua, chairperson of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, said that some of the receipts even covered periods when the OVP still had no confidential funds, further raising suspicions that these were hastily produced.
“Ang theory po namin, parang lumabas ang mga acknowledgment receipts (ARs) noong nilabasan po sila ng AOM (audit observation memorandum) ng COA (Our theory is that the ARs were submitted only after COA released the AOMs). So, because of that, nataranta po sila to justify ‘yung liquidation nila. Nag-produce sila ng maraming ARs (they scrambled to justify their liquidation of the expenses. They produced many Ars),” Chua told a joint press conference.
Chua, whose panel is set to resume its probe today, was referring to the discovery of the name “Mary Grace Piattos” in many receipts submitted by the OVP to the COA as liquidation documents for Duterte’s confidential funds.
Congressmen and netizens have questioned the existence of Piattos, 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 is a known local potato chips snack brand.
House members have offered a P1 million reward for information on “Ms. Piattos.”
Other suspected fictitious names have also 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 P125 million confidential funds that were allegedly spent in just 11 days in 2022.
The names include Fernando Tempura, Carlos Miguel Oishi, Reymunda Jane Nova, and a Chippy McDonald – names which congressmen said were obviously taken from local snack brands.
Chua said the receipts for varying amounts – P60,000, P40,000, and P400,000 – are riddled with discrepancies such as mismatched dates, missing signatures, and other irregularities.
He said the committee has also noticed the striking similarities in handwriting and the ink used in signing the receipts.
“Bagama’t iba-iba ang pangalan, pero ang stroke kung paano pinirmahan ito ay isa lang. Pati po ang ballpen na ginamit, iisa ang tinta. Medyo highly suspicious po ang mga (resibo) na isinumite (While there are different names, the strokes used in signing were the same. Even the ballpen used, the ink was the same. The receipts submitted were highly suspicious),” Chua said.
The panel chair said the committee may conclude that the receipts were indeed fabricated if the OVP will not be able to satisfactorily explain it to lawmakers.
FRAUD
In a statement, Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) said what the OVP did was “a clear case of fraud and misuse of public funds.”
“How can we trust the Office of the Vice President when they cannot even present real people who supposedly received these confidential funds? This is why Congress is now offering a P1-million reward to anyone who can present this mysterious Mary Grace Piattos,” Castro said.
“Baka maya-maya ay may sumulpot namang Ms. Goldilocks Chippy na imbento din nila? Kaya naman din ayaw talaga niyang (Duterte) dumalo sa good government hearing dahil kapag nanumpa siya na magsasabi ng totoo ay wala na siyang lusot (Who knows? May be there’ll be a Ms. Goldilocks Chippy next time. That’s why she doesn’t want to attend the good government hearings because once she takes the oath to tell the truth, she has no more way out),” she said.
Taguig City Rep. Amparo Maria Zamora said the OVP has failed to meet even the simplest requirements for ARs. “And you know, it’s very simple, ‘yung (the) requirements. It’s just an acknowledgment receipt. It asks for a signature, ng pangalan, ng petsa (the name, the date),” she told the press conference.
Zamora called on Vice President Duterte and OVP Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Gina Acosta to appear before the committee and address the discrepancies.
“Napakalaking halaga pero ganito na nga lang ang requirement, hindi pa maitama (It involves a huge amount and while the requirement was so simple, they couldn’t even get it right). Kaya talaga pong (That’s why it really), you know, it casts doubt, and that’s why we asked that the VP and the SDO ay magpakita at magpaliwanag naman (to show up and explain),” she said.
Last week, the good government panel cited in contempt Acosta and three OVP officials who snubbed its hearing even after being subpoenaed. It however spared Duterte’s Chief of Staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez after she wrote the panel to explain her absence.
The three who were cited in contempt and ordered arrested along with Acosta were OVP assistant chief of staff and Bids and Awards Committee chair Lemuel Ortonio, former Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda and SDO Edward Fajarda, who transferred to the OVP after Duterte resigned as education secretary last July.
The joint committee has already warned Lopez, who is reportedly back in the country, that she will be cited in contempt and ordered arrested, too, if she will not attend the hearing.
Chua said the Vice President should reconsider her plan not to attend the hearings and just submit an affidavit explaining the issues.
“Well, ang sabi niya magsa-submit na lang daw po siya ng sworn statement o affidavit, pero kami po ay hopeful na makarating siya dahil tingin namin ‘yung sworn affidavit is not enough (She said she will submit a sworn statement or affidavit but we’re still hopeful that she’ll attend because we think the sworn affidavit is not enough),” he said.
Zamora said an affidavit cannot replace the value of a testimony, adding that while Duterte has not been participating in the good government hearings, she was able to attend last week’s hearing of the House quad committee, where she was not an invited resource person.
The Vice President attended the hearing as a guest to support her father former president Rodrigo Duterte who was a resource person in the joint panel’s hearing on extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under his war on drugs.
“In fact, tinatanggap talaga ng committee (the committee really accepts), Cong. Joel, ‘yung (the) sworn affidavit. In fact, maganda ‘yun (that’s good),” Zamora said. “However, you know, if she was able to come here last week, she should be able to go here tomorrow (today, Wednesday).”
