The P1 million question: Where is ‘Mary Grace Piattos’?

DAVAO CITY — It has been 11 days since some members of the House of Representatives offered a P1-million reward for anyone who could present or provide information about a certain “Mary Grace Piattos.”

But the search for Piattos, one of the supposed recipients of confidential funds through the aid programs of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), has yet to bear fruit.

According to documents obtained by the House quad committee from the Commission on Audit, Piattos was a signatory to an acknowledgment receipt dated Dec. 30, 2022, which means she received part of the P125 million confidential funds that the office of Vice President Sara Duterte spent in just 11 days.

READ: P1-M reward for information on Mary Grace Piattos

The lawmakers suspected that the name was fictitious, as other listed recipients were identified as “Fernando Tempura,” “Carlos Miguel Oishi,” “Reymunda Jane Nova” and “Chippy McDonald”—all mimicking the brands of popular snacks.

During the quad committee hearing on Monday, Gina Acosta, the special disbursing officer of the OVP, admitted that she did not personally know Piattos. But she explained that it was alright to disburse the money to this person, saying there is such a surname in Davao City, her hometown, where the Vice President once served as mayor.

Acosta stood by her claim despite repeated questioning by Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro.

Validation

The Inquirer tried to validate Acosta’s assertion through various sources, including those available online.

The Inquirer Mindanao staff based in Davao asked around and were told there are residents surnamed “Piatos”— not Piattos—in the city, among them a family of doctors.

Checking online, the staff came across Trisha Anne Pareja Piatos, a chemistry graduate of De La Salle University who earned a degree in medicine from Davao Medical School Foundation in 2022, and who passed the April 2024 board exam for physicians.

READ: House to tap penmanship experts in OVP ‘Piattos’ mystery

And there are more doctors surnamed Piatos: Ernie, a dentist who runs the Piatos Dental Clinic; and Allan Edgar; and Mariblanca.

The Google search engine mentions a Piatos Building on Tionko Avenue in downtown Davao.

The website forebears.io found, as of this writing on Friday, 267 people worldwide who are surnamed Piatos, most of them in the Philippines.

Another website, ancestry.com, showed 61 records of such people.

Trying PSA

The Inquirer initially planned to make a formal request to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for a copy of the birth record of “Mary Grace Piattos.”

However, due to data privacy regulations, such requests may only be granted to relatives of the subject person.

The Inquirer staff also made contact with a man surnamed Piatos, but he only agreed to be interviewed on the condition that his full identity be withheld.

He said he did not know of any Mary Grace Piattos, noting the double ‘’t’’ that distinguishes that person’s surname from his.

Apart from those in Davao, there are also Piatos families in Manila, he added. INQ