We ate many ensaymadas but never saw Mary Grace Piattos – Kapunan

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Lorna Kapunan has jokingly admitted that she has yet to find Mary Grace Piattos, the recipient of confidential funds (CF) from Vice President Sara Duterte’s office, even if they have looked for her in different branches of the local restaurant that happened to be her namesake.

Kapunan, in a press briefing on Thursday, also said that they have been getting fatter after eating several ensaymadas and cheese rolls from Mary Grace, the restaurant who Piattos shares the name with, in their bid to find the person who received the CF payouts from the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

Kapunan said this after she and House Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega were asked if the issue surrounding Piattos — alleged to be a fictitious personality — will take center stage once Duterte’s impeachment trial moves to Article I or the CF misuse issue.

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“Despite the many ensaymadas and cheese rolls that I ate from all the Mary Grace outlets I visited, no one said they knew a certain Mary Grace Piattos,” Kapunan told reporters at the Batasang Pambansa complex.

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“So let’s wait. She might come out.  But I would stop eating those ensaymadas and cheese rolls. We in the prosecution team are getting fat, but we have yet to find her in any of those restaurants,” she added.

Ortega said that Piattos and the other names were literally the snacks during the height of the House committee on good government and public accountability’s investigation during the 19th Congress.

It was Ortega who publicized the list of other weird names that signed off acknowledgement receipts (ARs), or the documents submitted to the Commission on Audit, to prove that the CF payouts reached its intended beneficiaries.

“Literally, these names were our afternoon snacks before. We verified the names with the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) whether these persons exist, but around 200 to 300 names did not exist,” Ortega said.

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“So we’re here. As I’ve said, this is the perfect stage. This is the most important part. So I hope — as Cong. Joel (Chua) said — we can discuss everything here,” he added.

During the 19th Congress, the committee investigated Duterte’s offices — the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and previously, the Department of Education (DepEd), over allegations of CF misuse.

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One of the discoveries made during the course of the hearings was that there were weird names signing the ARs.

At one point, former Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop noticed that one of the individuals who signed the ARs was named Mary Grace Piattos — seemingly a combination of the names of the restaurant and a potato chip brand.

Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.

However, the signatures and handwriting used by the Villamin in the two documents differed.

Both names were also not found inside the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database for live birth, marriage, and death.

READ: Duterte impeachment: Lopez, ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ among witnesses sought

But aside from Piattos and Villamin, other weird names were discovered.

In April 2025, Ortega pointed out that there were several “Fionas” which refers to a character from fantasy film Shrek; a “Magellan,” which refers to Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who landed in Leyte in 1521; and another individual with the surname “Ewan,” which is a Filipino slang for ‘I don’t know.’

READ: ‘Magellan,’ ‘Fiona’ found on list of VP Duterte secret fund recipients

Before that, Ortega also released a set of names said to be from a grocery shopping list, while there were some names that sounded like a phone brand — Xiaome Ocho.

READ: Piattos’ kin, ‘Xiaome Ocho’ also got VP Sara Duterte’s funds – Ortega

Discussions at the impeachment trial are expected to move towards Article I or the issue of CF misuse, after the prosecution withdrew all but one of its witnesses for Article IV, or the allegation that Duterte issued grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

On Wednesday, lead public prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro announced that they are pulling out six witnesses for Article IV, as the case is supposedly strong already, and any testimony will be redundant.

READ: Prosec won’t call sheriff, reporters as witnesses in impeach trial anymore

The same reason was cited by Kapunan when she manifested before the court on Tuesday that they will also no longer present Office of the Vice President (OVP) Chief of Staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez and Capt. Belinda Bello of the House Legislative Security Bureau.

This means that only one witness remains for Article IV — National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag, who will be called to the witness stand on Tuesday.

Previously, two NBI officials testified before the impeachment court: Senior Agent John Mark Calilung and Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc.

READ: Prosecution won’t present Lopez anymore: Testimony is redundant

Aside from Article I and Article IV, there are two other grounds in the Articles of Impeachment:

Article II: Culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust when Duterte amassed unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official

Article III: Bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust when she gave monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws /apl

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