Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio gestures during a press briefing at the Cybergate building in Mandaluyong City on September 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN NewsMANILA — The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability will seek the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) help in verifying the identity of “Mary Grace Piattos”, who supposedly signed at least one of the acknowledgment receipts (AR) submitted by the Office of Vice President (OVP), helmed by Sara Duterte, to justify its 2022 confidential expenses.

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“Definitely we will coordinate… Tinitignan pa namin ‘yung iba pang pangalan. Baka mamaya may iba pang binabanggit ninyo para isang pasadahan na lang,” Committee chairperson Rep. Joel Chua said. 

Congressmen are offering P1 million as reward for anyone who can help identify and lead to “Mary Grace Piattos” as they suspect that the ARs were “bogus”, and the name of certain individuals who supposedly signed it were “fictitious”.

“Ito tinitignan ko ngayon, Piattos talaga e. I guess wala na silang maisip na pangalan… Baka kumakain siya noong panahon na ‘yun noong ginawa niya sa Mary Grace. Or kumakain siya ng Mary Grace at Piattos,” House Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Amparo Maria Zamora said.

The committee is also considering to consult a penmanship expert on alleged “bogus” acknowledgment receipts supposedly submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit. It previously flagged striking similarities in handwriting and ink across a number of receipts.

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“‘Yung mga stroke po, bagama’t iba-iba ang pangalan, pero ang stroke kung paano pinirmahan ito ay iisa lang. Pati ang ballpen na ginamit, iisa ang tinta. Kaya medyo highly suspicious po ‘yung mga acknowledgment receipt na isinumite,” Chua said.

“Kino-consider na rin po namin ‘yung mga penmanship para mai-submit sa mga expert witness,” he added.

Chua said some receipts covered periods when no confidential funds were available, raising concerns that they were “hastily” produced after the COA issued an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM).

“For example, ‘yung November 2022, that time wala naman pong confidential fund pero mayroon po silang in-issue na acknowledgment receipt. Mayroon din pong December 2023, so ang sabi po nila ito daw ay clerical error daw, typo error,” he said.

“Ang theory po namin… noong nilabasan po sila ng AOM o ‘yung audit observation memo ng COA so because of that nataranta po sila to justify ‘yung liquidation nila, nag-produce sila ng maraming acknowledgment receipt, but because of the volume they have to justify P125 million… kaya siguro na-overlook na nila, kaya ganito po ang nangyari,” Chua said.

Congressmen hope Duterte would attend the resumption of his committee’s hearing on Wednesday.

“Itong ginagawa po nila sa Kamara, waste of people's money rin ito. So sana naman this time makipag-cooperate na rin po sila. Kung totoo man po ‘yung sinasabi nila na wala silang kinalaman, ito na ang pinakatamang lugar para maipaliwanag po nila lahat ito,” Chua said.

“If she was able to come here last week she should be able to go here tomorrow,” Zamora added.

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