The House prosecution panel plans to present witnesses who could challenge the authenticity of thousands of acknowledgment receipts submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA) as documentation for the liquidation of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds.
Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon, a member of the prosecution team, said the 845 acknowledgment receipts associated with Duterte’s confidential funds may represent only a portion of the documents that could come under scrutiny.
Ridon recalled that during clarificatory proceedings held by the House Committee on Justice earlier this year, an NBI handwriting expert testified that “parang isang grupo, iilang tao lang pumirma, yung pumirma para sa acknowledgment receipts na ito.”
He said the testimony could expand the scope of questions surrounding the documents beyond the expenditures that COA has already disallowed.
“Ibig sabihin, labas doon sa findings ng COA mismo, doon sa dalawa nilang desisyon, ma-pu-put therefore in question in the next couple of weeks pag sinalang yung PSA, pag sinalang yung NBI na hindi lang ang disallowed in audit yung pwedeng kwestyunin kundi yung kabuuan ng acknowledgment receipts na parang iisa o iilang mga tao lang ang pumirma,” Ridon said.
According to Ridon, the prosecution has so far shown only selected examples from the 845 acknowledgment receipts issued by the Office of the Vice President (OVP). Some of the documents contain names that have raised questions about the identities of the supposed recipients.
Among the names cited were Mary Grace Piattos, Renan Piatos, Andy Lim, Alejandro Pikit, Nova Santos, Mico Harina and Patty Ting.
During the House Justice Committee hearings, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also testified that it could not find records of births, marriages or deaths for several individuals identified as confidential fund recipients, including Mary Grace Piattos, Kokoy Villamin and Milky Secuya.
Ridon said the sheer number of receipts would normally indicate that numerous individuals should have signed the documents, making the testimony of the NBI handwriting specialist potentially significant to the prosecution’s case.
“For thousands of acknowledgment receipts dapat ibat-ibang tao pumirma dito. Pag sumalang na handwriting expert ng NBI doon, makikita na hindi lang yung disallowed in audit ang dapat habulin,” Ridon said.
The House prosecution team is expected to resume its questioning of Commission on Audit-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) supervising state auditor Xylene Mae Del Campo when the Senate impeachment trial continues.
Del Campo is expected to discuss her audit findings concerning the use of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.