After the infamous Mary Grace Piattos, a new moniker was revealed during the House Blue Ribbon Committee's probe on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education's (DepEd) confidential funds on Wednesday, November 20.
During House Assistant Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong's interpolation, the name ‘Kokoy Villamin’ was flagged by the House Committee for appearing in multiple acknowledgement receipts in both the DepEd and the OVP. Adiong emphasized its varying signatures, and suggested that the signatory may also be fictitious.
The Lanao del Sur Representative compared the name with Mary Grace Piattos, who was previously questioned by the Committee for its evident fabrication. In a press conference earlier this week, the House members announced that a Php 1 million reward is up for anyone who could verify the existence of the said signatory.
With its discovery, a new name entered the spotlight, with several signatures logged onto both DepEd and the OVP's documents.
"Another observation that I want to ask. I think it was already mentioned during the previous hearings, that there are names appearing in both the acknowledgement receipts from the OVP, and as well as from the DepEd," Adiong said.
"Pero may isang pangalan na nag stand out sa akin among all the aknowledgement receipts na isinumite nila," he added.
Who is Kokoy Villamin?
To confirm the signatory's name, Adiong called on the COA Audit Officer Gloria Camora. The House Rep. pointed out that the name appeared in both agencies as a signatory.
"Medyo hindi kapanipaniwala. Ako ordinaryo akong tao, I'm not an auditor but, you can see it pareho yung pangalan nila, Kokoy Villamin. Yung acknowledgement receipt from the OVP and at the same time from the DepEd, (are) the same person, Kokoy Villamin," Adiong highlighted.
Based on the documents and acknowledgement receipts, Adiong admitted that they had no other ways to affirm if the persons who received the confidential funds are alive or if they're real people. He also questioned the possibility of both Kokoy's having the same first and last name to be the audit officer for both offices, headed by the same person.
"Is it just a coincidence that the same two offices headed by the same person, submitting to you the same acknowledgement receipts can encounter two persons. How unlikely would that be?" he said.
"Two persons with the same name, bearing the same spelling. Same last name, with the same first name. Posible ba 'yan?" he added.
Identical Names
Adiong ruled out that coincidences like such are highly unlikely, as the signatures submitted by the OVP differ from the acknowledgement receipts received by the DepEd.
"I think it's very obvious Mr. Chair, that the signatures on the acknowledgement receipts submitted by the OVP is quite different from the acknowledgement receipt received by the DepEd. Parehong pangalan, pero mukhang magkaiba ang tinta," Adiong stressed.
The lawmaker doubted the possibility that both offices had two different auditors with the same name. According to him, both offices would be flagged if authorities find out that they have identical names with different signatures attached.
If the names are falsified, Adiong said that it would be an abuse of the audit process, as they only presented their acknowledgement receipts. To the lawmaker, such discovery opens up a “floodgate of questions,” considering that those were public funds.
"Dahil these are public funds utilized and these are funds na readily available for their request, tapos ganito yung nakikita nating reports nila, at yung pag acknowledge ng kanilang pag utilize ng kanilang pondo," the lawmaker said.
"It's very obvious Mr. Chair na hindi lang si Mary Grace Piattos ang nakita nating kuwestiyonable. Nakikita din nating may mga acknowledgement receipts na pare-pareho yung pangalan, na magkakaiba yung date, na magkakaiba yung kanilang pirma" he ended.
