SOME recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds matched the names of people who had already died and children, including a two-month-old baby who died in 1965, an official of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) testified Monday.
During the 22nd day of Duterte’s impeachment trial, PSA Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande confirmed that the baby’s name appeared on acknowledgment receipts submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to justify the liquidation of P612.5 million in confidential funds spent between 2022 and 2023.
She said the PSA also verified that the database yielded a “single-match entry” (a unique, definitive record) for Marlin Sunga, who died at two months old on Nov. 2, 1965.
The PSA official said that Sunga has been dead for about 57 years when an acknowledgment receipt in her name appeared in 2023.
Grande testified that there are 20 minors in the OVP’s list and five minors in the DepEd’s list, based on their birth certificates.
This, after private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia presented the acknowledgment receipt of Miko Alquizar and Beatrice Cuenca for P400,000 each.
Grande said Alquizar and Cuenca were both born in 2022.
“How old was he in 2022?” Divinagracia asked.
Grande answered, “1 year old.”
Divinagracia also presented the acknowledgment receipt of Mikay Delos Reyes for P200,000, dated 2023.
The witness said Delos Reyes was born in January 2020, making her 3 years old in 2023.
The prosecution also presented the acknowledgment receipts of Fortunato Salig for P200,000, Emilio Sagan for P70,000, and Rodolfo Traya for P120,000, all dated 2023.
Grande said there are death certificates matching the names of Salig, Sagan, and Traya, dated June 29, 2011, July 28, 2015, and May 4, 2021, respectively.
“[Sagan] had been dead for seven years by 2022,” Grande said.
“Eleven years in 2022,” she added when asked how long Salig has been dead since 2022.
Senate Presiding Officer Francis Escudero, however, said that it is yet to be proven that the individuals who died are the same ones in the receipts.
“Shouldn’t what you’re saying be that there is a Rodolfo Traya who died? Because you don’t actually know if that was really him. But based on your records, there is someone with that name who died, was born, or got married. But you don’t know whether that was also him or not,” Escudero said.
Grande agreed and said that based on the death certificate, “there is a Rodolfo Traya who died.”
The witness also testified that 1,287 of 1,992 names on the OVP list and 398 of 677 names on the DepEd list yielded no record across all three categories in the PSA Civil Registry System.
The PSA also reverified names that yielded single matches in its database, with Grande testifying that 37 corresponded to people with official death certificates — 32 from the OVP list and five from DepEd.
She also said 34 signatories of the acknowledgment receipts have single-match entries with the PSA. Asked by Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo whether a civil registry check could be inconclusive even for a person who exists, Grande said that a “single match” means a unique record was found in the Civil Registry System database, but she could not speculate on whether the person “exists.”
On whether the PSA cross-checked the names against the PhilSys national ID database, Grande said she had not, citing a legal restriction on disclosure absent a court order.
Peculiar names
Grande also testified on several peculiar names appearing in the OVP’s acknowledgment receipts that she said she personally reverified in the PSA database.
Among those she identified as having no birth, marriage or death records were Arthur Baon, Ralph Josh Bacon, Beverly Claire Pampano, Matthew N. Keso, Maxine Callos, Charles Sampalok Jr., Xiaome Ocho, Dan Rick Ocho, Tomas Panda, Timon Angelo Pusa and Tina Maching and Mary Grace Piattos.
Asked why she found the names unusual, Grande said because they were “unique.”
She also said she conducted a reverification of the names using the Civil Registry System database. Grande said the PSA individually searched the names against birth, marriage and death records and classified the results as single match, multiple matches or no record. She stood by the accuracy of the PSA verification and tabulation presented to the impeachment court.
Asked by Senator-Judge Sherwin Gatchalian on whether the individuals listed on the confidential fund receipts actually exist, Grande said that while the PSA conducted further verification and updated summaries on the lack of records, the agency did not conduct an internal investigation into whether the individuals actually exist.
