MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande on Monday testified that she found some names in the acknowledgment receipts for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) confidential funds "unusual" because the majority of the names have no records of birth, marriage, or death.
Testifying during the 22nd day of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, Grande said the PSA database has no birth, marriage, or death record for “Mary Grace Piattos,” a supposed recipient of OVP confidential fund payouts.
Several other names listed as recipients of Duterte’s confidential funds—such as Arthur Baon, Ralph Josh Bacon, Beverly Claire Pampano, Matthew N. Keso, Maxine Callos, Charles Sampaloc Jr., Xiaome Ocho, Danrick Ocho, Tomas Panda, Timon Pusa and Tina Maching—also have no birth, marriage, or death records in the PSA.
Grande said the PSA verified the existence of civil registry documents of 677 DepEd payees and 1,992 OVP recipients of funds as requested by the House of Representatives' Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability in December 2024.
She reported that out of the 677 DepEd payees, 398 had no record of birth, marriage or death, 405 had no certificate of live birth, 443 had no certificate of marriage, and 507 had no certificate of death.
Of the 1,992 OVP payees, Grande said that 1,287 had no record of birth, marriage or death, 1,322 had no certificate of live birth, 1,456 had no certificate of marriage, and 1,593 had no certificate of death.
Only 152 names returned a unique, single-match entry, the PSA official added.
