Solon: Everyone deserves to know Piatto's real identity

MANILA, Philippines — Everyone, regardless of political leanings, deserves to know the real identity of Mary Grace Piattos, a recipient of confidential funds (CF) from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said on Friday.

During an online press briefing, Alonto Adiong was repeatedly asked if the prosecution is unconcerned about the well-being and safety of the person behind Mary Grace Piattos, as she may be placed in harm’s way if the prosecution panel for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial insists on her being a witness.

In response, Alonto Adiong — one of the prosecution panel’s spokespersons — asked the reporter who raised the question if he is not curious to know who Piattos really is, before adding that everyone deserves to know if she is a fictitious individual or not.

Article continues after this advertisement

“Aren’t you, as a taxpayer, I’ll ask you this, not just as a journalist, as a taxpayer.  Aren’t you also intrigued as to who Mary Grace Piattos is?  Don’t you want to know who she is?  We want to establish her identity, and it is only through processes affirmed by the Constitution and due process that we will be able to do so,” he said.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

“I think all of us […] even you, you deserve to know who Mary Grace Piattos is because you’ve been paying your taxes, and the confidential funds are actually the tax paid by the people,” Alonto Adiong added.

According to Adiong, the prosecution views Piattos as a fabricated identity, as reports from multiple government agencies found no record of anyone by that name. However, Adiong said that the defense will now be in the best position to refute their allegations.

“So, well, in our opinion, if you were to ask us, there is really no Mary Grace Piattos.  That has been our allegation: there is no Mary Grace Piattos,” he said

“The only way for us to establish whether this person really did exist — despite the fact that the PSA also came out with the report that there’s no such person with that name existing — is the court,” he added.

Article continues after this advertisement

Codename argument invalid

Alonto Adiong also shot down arguments that Piattos is a mere pseudonym meant to hide her real identity, to ensure her safety after the release of confidential information to OVP.

Article continues after this advertisement

According to the lawmaker, if this is true, then the OVP should have included in its submissions to the Commission on Audit (COA), particularly the Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO), the real identity of the CF recipient in line with COA’s 2015 joint circular on the use of confidential and intelligence funds.

“Assuming, for example — and I’m not confirming the fact that this is true — but assuming, without conceding, that these are all codenames: you cannot resort to codenames with COA,” Alonto Adiong said.

“Because in the joint circular, even if that is a codename for the purpose of security of either purchase of information or reward, there has to be an attached envelope stating that Batman, his true name is this, for the purpose of auditing the funds that have been used for the purchase of information or reward to an informant,” he added.

Alonto Adiong stressed that the OVP’s decision not to follow this step, as stated in the joint circular, led to the transactions being flagged.

“So that’s why the COA said stop, you cannot just submit mere acknowledgment receipts.  In fact, it is very clear in our joint circular that before acknowledgement receipts, for example, should come with attachments in envelopes, which should be classified and directly given to ICFAO,” he noted.

On Thursday, copies of the prosecution’s pre-trial brief showed that key personalities, including OVP chief-of-staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez and Piattos, were among the 57 witnesses listed by the panel for Duterte’s trial.

Lopez and Piattos were among the 27 witnesses that the prosecution would like to be admitted for Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, or the allegations of CF misuse.READ: Duterte impeachment: Lopez, ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ among witnesses sought

Lopez will be asked, the prosecution said, to take the witness stand so that she can “prove that respondent misused and misappropriated confidential funds,” while Piattos will be asked to “testify on their alleged receipt of confidential funds.”

Most of the individuals mentioned as witnesses for Article I were the same individuals invited by the House committee on good government and public accountability when the panel started investigating Duterte and her offices for alleged CF misuse.

At one point in the committee on good government hearings, the late Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop noticed that a certain Mary Grace Piattos — a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand — signed off the ARs.

Later on, Alonto Adiong himself showed two ARs — one for the OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.  However, Villamin’s signatures and handwriting in the two documents differed.

READ: House probe: OVP, DepEd CFs received by same man, different signatures

Part of the CFs in question were flagged and later disallowed by the COA, as the ICFAO issued a notice of disallowance (ND) for the P375 million CF expenditures made by the OVP in 2023 and the ND for the P73 million CF for 2022.

The COA en banc affirmed the ND on the P73 million CF expenditures.

READ: Ridon sees ‘pattern of misuse’ as COA flags secret funds in Duterte’s office

The P375 million CF expenditures for 2023 were flagged, COA said, because this was used wrongly and funds were disbursed by unauthorized personnel.

COA-ICFAO stated that one of the reasons for disallowing the P375 million confidential fund (CF) was that Duterte directed special disbursement officer Gina Acosta to hand over CF disbursement responsibilities to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

COA said this goes against the Joint Circular that prescribes rules on CF expenditures./coa