House prosecutors plan to summon Mary Grace Piattos to the Senate impeachment court to settle a growing mystery: whether she is a real person or a completely fabricated identity used to justify government spending.
Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, a spokesperson for the House prosecution panel, revealed that while Vice President Sara Duterte submitted an acknowledgment receipt bearing Piattos’ name to the Commission on Audit (COA) for confidential fund expenditures, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has confirmed it has no record of anyone by that name.
Because of this, the prosecution argues that the receipt is entirely fictitious and the funds may have been pocketed.
Adiong challenged the Vice President’s legal team to either present the elusive witness or reveal her true identity if the name was merely a pseudonym.
“It would be better…lahat tayo excited makilala si Mary Grace Piattos dahil parati natin ito naririnig for the past years,” Adiong said.
The lawmaker pointed out that Piattos is not an isolated case, as several other names listed on the liquidation receipts also drew blanks in the PSA database.
“The logical conclusion is that those who received the confidential funds indicated under the confidential funds might probably be made-up characters,” he said.
“Let the court find out who really is Mary Grace Piattos,” the Mindanaoan lawmaker stressed.
With the misuse of confidential funds serving as a core allegation in the Articles of Impeachment, Adiong emphasized that the upcoming trial is the ultimate venue to uncover the truth for the Filipino people.
“So, in the matter of presentation of the Articles of Impeachment, ang sinasabi po natin katotohanan at pawang ang katotohanan lamang ay ilalatag natin sa Senado at sa sambayan ng Pilipino,” he added.
Following the conclusion of the pre-trial conference, the highly anticipated Senate impeachment trial is scheduled to begin on July 6.