Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB)

The case of "Mary Grace Piattos" may not be an isolated one after all.

This, after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability learned that nearly two-thirds of individuals listed as recipients of P500 million in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) under Vice President Sara Duterte have no birth records.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), as per the request of the House panel, carried out verification on civil registry records of 1,992 individuals linked to the controversial fund, and in the process found out that 1,322 individuals lacked birth records in its database. 

Only 670 names were identified as “most likely matched” to existing records, the PSA added.

The PSA also found that of the 1,992 names submitted for verification, 1,456 lacked marriage records, with only 536 showing possible matches. Similarly, 1,593 had no death records, while just 399 had corresponding entries.

The results were detailed in a Dec. 11 letter from National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa to Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, chairman of the panel.

The current batch of names under scrutiny appeared on acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (CoA) to justify confidential fund expenditures from late 2022 to the third quarter of 2023. 

Chua said the PSA’s latest findings provide strong evidence that the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted to justify the P500 million in confidential funds were likely fabricated.

“This certification from the PSA leaves little doubt—if these names cannot be found in the civil registry, it strongly suggests they do not exist. The ARs may have been manufactured to justify the disbursement of confidential funds,” he said.

He added, “These findings raise a critical question: if the recipients don’t exist, where did the money go? This is not just a clerical error; this points to a deliberate effort to misuse public funds.”

The verification follows earlier PSA findings that revealed discrepancies in records tied to a separate P112.5-million confidential funds disbursed by the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s term as Secretary in 2023. 

Out of 677 names investigated in that case, 405 had no birth records, 445 lacked marriage certificates, and 508 had no death certificates.

One name in the DepEd receipts, “Mary Grace Piattos,” earlier trended on social media. In the Philippines, "Mary Grace" is the name of a restaurant, while "Piattos" is a brand of potato chips. This has led to suspicions that the signed AR submitted to COA for liquidation purposes was baloney. 

Another name, “Kokoy Villamin,” appeared in both the OVP and DepEd receipts but with inconsistent signatures. 

Just like Piattos, the PSA confirmed that Villamin also has no records in the civil registry, further fueling suspicions of fabricated recipients.