Manila: Mary Grace Piattos, the controversial name that surfaced in earlier investigations into Vice President Sara Duterte's confidential funds, formally reached the Senate impeachment court Monday through an acknowledgment receipt submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
According to Philippines News Agency, former Commission on Audit Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO) state auditor Roderick Wamil identified the receipt as one of 845 acknowledgment receipts (ARs) he examined in auditing the OVP's PHP125-million confidential fund for Dec. 21 to 31, 2022. Wamil noted, "This AR po is among the acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP to ICFAO," after private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan presented the document bearing Piattos' name, an apparent combination of a restaurant and a potato chips brand.
Wamil further explained that based on the acknowledgment receipt, Mary Grace Piattos received PHP70,000 for the payment of rewards - medicines. However, when asked whether the entry meant that medicines had been given as the reward, Wamil said the receipt alone did not provide sufficient information to determine the nature of the payment. The terms 'payment of rewards' and 'medicines' appeared in the AR in parentheses.
He clarified, "Hindi ko po ma-determine based on this document. Iyon po kaya kami nagpapa-submit ng additional documents (I cannot determine based on this document. That's why we asked for the submission of additional documents)," due to the lack of proper documentation evidencing success, which is required under Item 4.8.5 of Joint Circular 2015-01. An acknowledgment receipt generally indicates that a payee received payment, but for payments classified as informer rewards, the receipt by itself did not satisfy the requirements of Joint Circular No. 2015-01. The circular mandates that rewards be supported by documents showing the success of information-gathering or surveillance activities resulting from information provided by the informer.
During the proceedings, Wamil did not testify on whether Piattos was a real person. He explained that ICFAO conducted a compliance audit based on the documentary requirements of the circular, which did not direct his audit team to investigate the identities of individual recipients.
The court permitted the prosecution to use Wamil's 19-page tabulation instead of examining all 845 receipts individually due to the records filling three boxes. The defense did not object to the voluminous-record procedure but reserved its right to test the tabulation's accuracy during cross-examination. Wamil's tabulation showed a total of PHP125.15 million in expenses, PHP150,000 more than the PHP125-million cash advance reflected in the documents submitted to ICFAO.
Wamil testified, "Based on the documents po, may discrepancy po ang (there is a discrepancy between the) acknowledgment receipts and the accomplishment report." Another receipt presented to the court was under the name Renan Piatos for PHP110,000, carrying a Dec. 27, 2023 date, one year after the stated Dec. 21-to-31, 2022 coverage of the cash advance. Wamil noted, "The payment was made outside the coverage ng kanilang (of their) cash advance." A receipt under Miko P. Harina for PHP295,000 in purchased supplies was likewise dated Dec. 31, 2023. Wamil stated that the OVP submitted no other document identifying the supplies apart from the acknowledgment receipt.
Other selected receipts were dated within the correct period and involved the purchase of information, which Wamil acknowledged was an allowable confidential-fund expense. He mentioned that the audit team evaluated the OVP's explanations and attached records before issuing a Notice of Suspension. "Nag-issue po kami ng Notice of Suspension dahil hindi pa rin compliant ang kanilang submission (We issued a Notice of Suspension because their submission was still not compliant)," Wamil said.
