Sara, OVP execs’ attendance key to ‘Mary Grace Piattos’

MANILA, Philippines — House lawmakers yesterday urged Vice President Sara Duterte and her aides in the Office of the Vice President to attend today’s hearing at the House of Representatives so they can shed light on the identity of “Mary Grace Piattos,” whose name appears in liquidation documents linked to the alleged misuse of OVP funds.

“Their presence is very essential in the sense that it is only them who can authenticate if that name really exists,” Rep. Joel Chua, chairman of the House committee on good government and public accountability, yesterday told journalists at a briefing.

“If it is really true that indeed they did nothing wrong and have nothing to do with these, then this is their best opportunity to say so. If the name (Piattos) is truly confidential, then they can always ask for an executive session,” he proposed, when posed with the possibility of her being an agent.

His colleague, Rep. Pammy Zamora of Taguig, agreed.

“And we will be more than willing to give it (executive session) to them. At the same time, they will also have the P1-million bounty that we are offering,” she added, referring to the reward for individuals who can produce Piattos in person.

For her part, Zamora cited Duterte’s unannounced visit to the House last Nov. 13 when her father, former president Duterte, attended the quad committee hearing investigating the alleged state-sanctioned summary executions during his six-year term.

“If she was able to come here last week (Nov. 13), then she should be able to come here tomorrow (Nov. 20). We expect her to come. Otherwise, she loses her chance of explaining all these questions that have been left hanging,” she said.

Chua and Zamora said that while a sworn affidavit is fine, a personal appearance would be better on the basis that there might be questions that need to be expounded or elaborated upon, especially with nitty-gritty details that only Duterte and her staff can answer convincingly.

Chua also assured the general public that they will be conducting more hearings to check the veracity of all the documents that the OVP submitted to the Commission on Audit, many of which appear either fictitious, spurious and dubious.

For her part, House deputy minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro assailed yesterday Vice President Duterte over the highly questionable receipts for confidential intelligence funds (CIFs) bearing the signature of Piattos.

“This is a clear case of fraud and misuse of public funds. How can we trust the Office of the Vice President when they cannot even present real people who supposedly received these confidential funds? This is why Congress is now offering a P1-million reward to anyone who can present this mysterious Mary Grace Piattos,” Castro said.

“Maybe, a Ms. Goldilocks Chippy will surface soon? She cannot evade the truth, that is why she doesn’t want to appear before the House committee on good government and testify under oath,” she added.

The OVP is under scrutiny for its use of P500 million in confidential funds spanning from the last quarter of 2022 through the first three quarters of 2023, while the DepEd under Sara’s term is being questioned over P112.5 million in confidential funds.

Documents submitted by the Commission on Audit to House committee showed that COA flagged nearly half of the total, disallowing P73 million of the P125 million spent by the OVP in just 11 days during the last quarter of 2022.

‘No impeachment’

Despite the overwhelming pieces of evidence revealed by witnesses in the series of House hearings on the alleged misuse of CIFs in the OVP and DepEd, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez yesterday said there is “no cooking up” of an impeachment complaint against Vice President Duterte.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, Fernandez said that Congress has run out of time for the impeachment proceedings against Duterte.

“Impeachment is difficult. I don’t know if there is cooking of that sort. Here (Congress), there is none. It depends on the evidence to be presented,” Fernandez said.

“The officers of the OVP that were subpoenaed are not attending the hearing. But the pieces of evidence that were revealed before the House committee on good government and public accountability are already sufficient,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez cited that the House has until Dec. 16 to have its congressional Christmas break.

“We have until Dec. 16. On our return to Congress on Jan. 15, it will be the start of the campaign already,” Fernandez said. — Jose Rodel Clapano