Confi fund recipients match names of children, dead people in PSA records

Some recipients of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education's (DepEd) confidential funds matched the names of deceased individuals and children in the records of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), a witness in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial testified Monday.

PSA Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande said the youngest supposed signatory in the acknowledgment receipts was Marlin Sunga, who died in November 1965.

“Based po kasi sa death certificate po niya, two months pa lang ay namatay na po siya (because based on her death certificate, she died when she was two months old),” she said.

According to Grande, Sunga has been dead for around 57 years as of 2023.

Meanwhile, private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia presented the acknowledgment receipts of Fortunato Salig for P200,000, Emilio Sagan for P70,000, and Rodolfo Traya for P120,000, all dated 2023.

Grande said there are death certificates matching the names of Salig, Sagan, and Traya, dated June 2011, July 2015, and May 2021, respectively.

“Seven years nang namatay [si Sagan] noong 2022,” Grande said.

“Eleven years po noong 2022,” she added when asked how long Salig has been dead since 2022.

According to Grande, 34 signatories of the acknowledgment receipts have single-match entries with the PSA.

Meanwhile, Grande testified that there are 20 minors in the OVP’s list and five minors in the Department of Education’s (DepEd) list, based on their birth certificates.

Divinagracia presented the acknowledgment receipt of Miko Alquizar and Beatrice Cuenca for P400,000 each.

According to Grande, Alquizar and Cuenca were both born in 2022.

“Ilang taon na po siya noong 2022 (How old was he in 2022)?” Divinagracia asked.

Grande answered, “Isang taon po (1 year old).”

Divinagracia also presented the acknowledgment receipt of Mikay Delos Reyes for P200,000, dated 2023.

According to the witness, Delos Reyes was born in January 2020, making her three years old in 2023.

For his part, Senate Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero said that it is yet to be proven that the individuals who died are the same in the receipts.

This came after Grande testified that Traya died in 2021.

“Hindi ba dapat ang sinasabi mo mayroong Rodolfo Traya na namatay. Dahil hindi mo naman alam kung siya talaga ‘yun. Pero base sa talaan niyo, may ganoong pangalan na namatay, pinanganak o kinasal. Pero hindi ninyo alam kung siya din ‘yun o hindi,” he said.

(Shouldn’t what you’re saying be that there is a Rodolfo Traya who died? Because you don’t actually know if that was really him. But based on your records, there is someone with that name who died, was born, or got married. But you don’t know whether that was also him or not.)

Grande agreed and said that based on the death certificate, “may Rodolfo Traya na namatay (there is a Rodolfo Traya who died).”

Unusual

Meanwhile, Grande also admitted that she found the following names in the list of payees of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as “unusual:”

• Arthur Baon
• Beverly Claire Pampano
• Mathew N. Keso
• Charles Sampaloc Jr.
• Maxine Callos

“Ako po ay nag-verify some of the names listed, which I find unusual doon sa mga certifications,” Grande said.

Asked by private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia why she found the names unusual, Grande said because they were “unique.” She also said she conducted a reverification of the names using the Civil Registry System database.

When it comes to “Arthur Baon,” Grande said that, based on the CRS database, he has no copy of a birth, marriage, or death certificate

The same goes for Beverly Claire Pampano, Mathew N. Keso, Charles Sampaloc Jr., and Maxine Callos.

In the offering of the witness’ testimony, Divinagracia said that the prosecution is trying to prove that the confidential funds were liquidated “in the names of the non-existent, the long dead, and children.”

“Ang mga pangalang ito ang nasa recipient list at acknowledgement receipts ng OVP at DepEd sa 2022 at 2023—mga taong ayon sa talaan ng PSA ay walang record ng pag-iral, matagal nang patay, o mga bata noon,” she added.

(These are the names found on the recipient lists and acknowledgement receipts of the OVP and DepEd for 2022 and 2023—individuals who, according to PSA records, do not exist, have long been dead, or were children at the time.) —AOL, GMA News