House panel to PSA: Verify 1,992 names linked to OVP fund issue

(Image courtesy of House committee on good government and public accountability)

MANILA, Philippines — Over 1,900 names found in the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for confidential funds (CFs) expenditures of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) were submitted to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for verification, according to Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua.

Chua, who heads the House committee on good government and public accountability, said PSA will look into the civil registry records of 1,992 individuals linked to the alleged misuse of OVP confidential funds under the helm of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The panel already conducted eight hearings to probe the spending of CFs for OVP and the Department of Education. 

“May we request for the verification of the Civil Registry Documents (birth, marriage, and death) of the names in the attached list relative to the investigation being conducted by the Committee,” Chua said in his December 9 letter to PSA, a copy of which he released to media members on Tuesday. 

Earlier, Chua revealed that 405 of the 667 names found on the ARs for the CFs of the DepEd have no record with the PSA. 

Findings from the PSA also revealed that certain Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin have a negative record of birth, marriage, and death in the PSA Civil Registry System database.

Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin were among the names that surfaced during the investigation of the panel.