Marilyn Cahatol

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178875994032720260907-senate-vp-sara-impeachment-day22-MT-5.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande takes the witness stand during the 22nd day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines on September 7, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News "><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align: left;">Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande takes the witness stand during the 22nd day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines on September 7, 2026. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News&nbsp;</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA &mdash; An official from the Philippine Statistics Authority on Monday acknowledged that not all births, deaths and marriages have been registered in the database the agency used to check the existence of confidential fund recipients of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.&nbsp;</p><p>During cross-examination, PSA Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande told the Senate impeachment court that the agency verified the names of the OVP and DepEd&rsquo;s recipients of confidential fund payments through its Civil Registry System database, which is based on data submitted by local civil registries, Shari&#39;ah courts and Philippine foreign service posts.</p><p>&ldquo;As the PSA is also in charge in the censuses, we get information also on the birth registration,&rdquo; Grande said.</p><p>She said the PSA does not conduct field investigations for the CRS to physically check if all births, deaths and marriages have been registered.&nbsp;</p><p>Defense counsel Justin Nicol Gular asked Grande: &quot;So you can confirm that it is possible that a certain birth did in fact occur but it is not registered in the CRS database?&quot;</p><p>Grande responded: &quot;Based on the data, there are births that are not registered.&quot;</p><p>The same goes for deaths and marriages, she confirmed.&nbsp;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/7/parties-distance-selves-from-idea-that-duterte-confi-fund-payees-used-aliases-1302"><strong>Parties distance selves from idea that Duterte confi fund payees used aliases<br></strong></a></div><p>&ldquo;Registration is not universal. That&rsquo;s why we have programs to register all [for] universal civil registration,&rdquo; she said.</p><p>The official earlier <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/7/psa-official-finds-unusual-names-among-confidential-fund-payees-lacking-records-1238">testified&nbsp;</a>that of the 1,992 OVP payees, 1,287 had no records of birth, marriage, or death, while 398 of the 677 DepEd payees had no records.</p><p>Gular also asked the witness whether clerical errors could affect the agency&rsquo;s verification of confidential fund recipients.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;Not exactly, sir,&rdquo; Grande said, explaining that the CRS database is designed to capture names with similar spelling and sound.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;When you input a name, kahit wrong yung spelling niya, all of the entries which is almost similar to that name will be provided at iisa-isahin po iyon ng aming [Regional Statistical Services Office] verifiers,&rdquo; Grande said.&nbsp;</p><p>(When you input a name, even if it is spelled wrong, all entries similar to that name will be provided and our RSO verifiers go through each one.)</p><p>The names of confidential funds recipients raised concerns over their similarity to foods, like &ldquo;Mary Grace Piattos,&rdquo; &quot;Beverly Claire Pampano&quot; and &quot;Matthew N. Keso.&rdquo; Some also sound similar to Filipino words and phrases like &ldquo;Andy Lim&rdquo; and &ldquo;Xuniso Belat.&rdquo;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/7/defense-stipulates-nolasco-received-confidential-funds-from-fajarda-1245"><strong>Defense stipulates Nolasco &#39;received&#39; confidential funds from Fajarda</strong></a><strong><br></strong></div><div><br></div><div><strong>3% BIRTHS UNREGISTERED</strong></div><p>Grande said about 97 to 97.1 percent of Filipinos&rsquo; births have been registered as of 2024.&nbsp;</p><p>This means 3 percent of the country&rsquo;s population, translating to 3.3 to 3.4 million individuals, have not had their births registered. They are mostly indigenous peoples, Muslim Filipinos and those residing in remote areas, Grande said.&nbsp;</p><p>Meanwhile, 63 percent of the supposed OVP and DepEd fund recipients were not in the PSA records.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;Rare po ito, because dun sa mga government agencies na vineverify namin, hindi po ganun kataas masyado ang resulta,&rdquo; Grande said during redirect examination.&nbsp;</p><p>(This is rare, because the other government agencies we verified did not yield high results.)</p><p>She said government agencies&rsquo; requests for verification usually produce around 30 to 40 percent negative results, making the OVP and DepEd&rsquo;s results &ldquo;unusual.&rdquo;</p><p>In a month, around 7 to 8 percent of walk-in requests were negative, she added.&nbsp;</p><p>The prosecution presented Grande as the court tackles VP Sara Duterte&rsquo;s alleged misuse, questionable liquidation, and systematic misappropriation of confidential funds.</p><div><br></div><div><strong>WATCH</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ymjhaP702ik?si=lnXH-BjCUvyBYZGp" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br></div>

<p>An official from the Philippine Statistics Authority on Monday admitted that not all births, deaths and marriages have been registered in the database the agency used to verify the existence of confidential fund recipients of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.</p>

An official from the Philippine Statistics Authority on Monday admitted that not all births, deaths and marriages have been registered in the database the agency used to verify the existence of confidential fund recipients of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.

PSA official acknowledges not all births, deaths, marriages registered

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PSA official acknowledges not all births, deaths, marriages registered

Marilyn Cahatol,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 07, 2026 02:10 PM PHT

|

Updated September 07, 2026 03:17 PM PHT

Read More:

Sara Duterte

impeachment trial

confidential funds

Philippine Statistics Authority

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