It turns out that Mary Grace Piattos isn’t the only recipient of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), whose very existence is in question.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that of the 1,992 names in the list of confidential fund recipients submitted to the agency, 1,322 do not have birth, death, or marriage records. Only the remaining 670 “most likely matched” the agency’s birth records.
The names came from acknowledgement receipts that the OVP submitted to the Commission on Audit (CoA) to justify confidential fund expenditures from late 2022 to the third quarter of 2023, which amounted to P500 million. These names were then submitted by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to PSA for verification.
PSA’s findings are “strong evidence” that the OVP’s acknowledgement receipts were fabricated, said Committee Chair and Manila Representative Joel Chua. “These findings raise a critical question: if the recipients don’t exist, where did the money go?” said Chua. “This is not just a clerical error; this points to a deliberate effort to misuse public funds.”
The Committee also submitted a list of 677 names that appeared in acknowledgement receipts issued by the Department of Education (DepEd) during Vice President Sara Duterte’s tenure as Secretary from June 2022 until July 2024. The PSA reported that they had no records for 405 of the names.
‘I will not give an explanation’
The PSA’s findings follow an earlier investigation into the identities of names like Mary Grace Piattos, Chippy McDonald, Fernando Tempura, and Carlos Oishi, which had appeared in confidential fund receipts. In a press conference on December 11, Duterte stated that she would not give an explanation for the names. “I will not give an explanation because it will entail that I explain intelligence operations, which will compromise offices who do intelligence operations.”
Furthermore, she said that confirming whether or not the suspicious names — which seem to come from food brands and establishments — are code names would only “add to cases that will be filed” against her.
Duterte also said that she had no part in the preparation of the receipts, telling reporters, “That went down to the grassroots level. I was up here in the structure and money went down for information.”
The House’s probe on the OVP and DepEd’s alleged misuse of confidential funds have been ongoing since November 2024, with hearings having wrapped up on December 9. In a hearing, DepEd Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Edward Fajarda said that he gave Colonel Dennis Nolasco P112.5 million in weekly tranches during Duterte’s tenure as DepEd Secretary, while OVP SDO Gina Acosta gave Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica P125 million in confidential funds. Nolasco and Lachica are two ranking officers of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group.
