Almost two-thirds of OVP confidential fund payees have no birth records - PSA

Metro Manila, Philippines - Almost two-thirds of the individuals who received payment from the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) ₱500-million confidential funds have no birth records with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, House committee on good government and public accountability chairperson, has requested the PSA to verify 1,992 names in the OVP’s acknowledgment receipts (AR).

The PSA said 1,322 names do not have birth records.

“This certification from the PSA leaves little doubt—if these names cannot be found in the civil registry, it strongly suggests they do not exist. The ARs may have been manufactured to justify the disbursement of confidential funds,” Chua said in a statement on Sunday, Dec. 15.

“These findings raise a critical question: if the recipients don’t exist, where did the money go? This is not just a clerical error; this points to a deliberate effort to misuse public funds,” he said.

PSA’s verification also showed that 1,456 individuals have no marriage records and 1,593 have no death documents.

The PSA earlier verified ARs of the Department of Education (DepEd), which Vice President Sara Duterte handled until July this year. It said 405 out of 677 names were not in its system.

Among the “questionable” names flagged by lawmakers during the panel’s hearings is Mary Grace Piattos. Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop pointed out that it is a seeming combination of restaurant and snack names.

House lawmakers, who are investigating the OVP and DepEd confidential funds, also flagged acknowledgement receipts with same names but different signatures, different names but with similar signatures, with typographical errors, and without names, dates, or signatures.