Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial Continues with New Witness on Fictitious Fund Disbursements

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is set to continue on Monday with a new witness to be presented by the House prosecution panel. The prosecution is expected to call Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande to the witness stand to answer questions on the “fictitious individuals” whom confidential funds were allegedly disbursed to. Prosecutor Terry Ridon of Bicol Saro party-list earlier explained that PSA officials are included in the witnesses for the allegation on misused confidential funds because they conducted the study, which showed that the names on the acknowledgment receipts like the infamous Mary Grace Piattos, “were not born, did not marry, and did not die in the Philippines, because they have no PSA records.” “We will be able to show that these are fake, fictitious individuals. Ibig sabihin, talaga po na may nangyaring kababalaghan at maling paggamit dito po sa pondo ng bayan,” Ridon said. Grande’s testimony will still be in relation to Article 1 of the impeachment case, which accuses the Vice President of committing impeachable offenses due to systematic misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education (DepEd). Duterte’s defense team previously said they were ready to explain the use of aliases for confidential funds. “Specifically the ‘Mary Grace Piattos,’ we are ready to respond to that and explain bakit may mga ganyan (why things like that exist),” Defense spokesperson Michael Poa said in February. “She will address those issues in the appropriate time at kung ang circumstances bakit may ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ and things like that, and that has been something we have been preparing for last year pa,” he added. Aside from Mary Grace Piattos, the unusual names that were identified as confidential fund recipients include: Milky Secuya, Feonna Villegas, Miggy Mango, Xiaomi Ocho, and Jay Kamote, among others. Apart from the PSA official, the Senate impeachment court likewise ordered Commission on Audit (COA) employee Bresilio Sabaldan, DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda, and Police Major Jovelyn Magay to testify in the impeachment trial from September 7 to 9. —Giselle Ombay/BAP, GMA News