Four hundred five out of the 677 names included in the acknowledgment receipts from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) are non-existent, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) confirmed to the House Blue Ribbon Committee.
During the House Blue Ribbon committee’s hearing on Friday, December 9, the panel Chairman and Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua announced that the PSA confirmed on Sunday, December 8, that 405 out of the 677 names who signed were non-existent. Those individuals have no birth, marriage, and death records.
Moreover, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong suspected that there is a possibility that only one person made the receipts. The observation came after they found that some of the signatures were identical, but were signed with different names. Adiong noted that it was done about two or three times for each signatory.
Code Name Usage
“There are certain personalities who claimed that this Mary Grace Piattos was merely a code name, adding that in television and movies, these code names are used for secret missions,” Adiong said.
Some people suggested the possibility of code names as signatories for the acknowledgment receipts. However, the lawmaker stressed that this is real life and not a television show where the use of code names is valid.
“But the fugitive, and I address him directly in hiding, forgets that this is real life. Tunay tayong nagiimbestiga dito. Hindi ito telebisyon, hindi ito palabas,” he said.
“That the people’s money, earned through the hard work of every Filipino, should be scrutinized on how they were spent by our agencies,” he added.
When the panel reached out to the PSA to confirm the identities of the individuals listed, the latter verified that only a few of those were real people. Additionally, the unique ink shade used to sign the documents led to lawmakers suspecting that only one person signed the receipts.
Therefore, out of all the signatories listed, none of them received the funds, despite the documents submitted. Besides Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin, other names like Alice Crecencio and Milky Sekuya also repeatedly appeared.
Demanding Transparency
Adiong echoed Chua’s plea for transparency. He mentioned how important it is that authorities know how the public funds are spent by government officials.
“Transparency is required. Kasi kailangang masilip ng awtoridad gaya ng COA, o kaya’t ang taumbayan, kung nasa tama ba ang paggastos ng kanilang pondo. In this particular case, the confidential funds,” he said.
“The PSA recently informed us that our new friends, Mr. Kokoy Villamin, Milky Sekuya, and Ms. Alice Crecencio are also all non-existent, wala silang records,” he added.
With no proof of existence, the panel stressed that they wanted to leave no stone unturned. Although some of the names were confirmed to exist, Adiong noted that 405 is still an alarming percentage of non-existent people.
Adiong stressed that it is unlikely that all of the names submitted for verification are merely code names, like what a high-power lawyer would claim, as it would not make sense from a legal standpoint.
The Committee announced that they will be concluding their probe on the OVP and DepEd’s confidential funds misuse under Vice President (VP) Sara Duterte’s leadership, from 2022 to 2023.
