Vice President Sara Duterte spoke on Wednesday about the P1-million reward for information on “Mary Grace Piattos.” She said she had not seen the documents that allegedly linked Piattos to her office’s confidential funds. Duterte explained that the documents, including receipts, do not go through her office but are directly submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA) by a special officer for review.
In an interview in Butuan City, Duterte clarified that she could not comment on the reward or the documents because she did not handle them personally. She explained that the documents go straight to the COA for auditing, and she is not involved in the process.
The reward was announced by the House good government committee after discovering that many acknowledgment receipts for the confidential funds of the Vice President’s Office and the Department of Education (DepEd), under Duterte’s leadership, had missing or unclear signatures. Some receipts were also dated incorrectly or left undated. COA auditors found over 700 receipts with no names or with unreadable names of signatories, raising concerns about how the confidential funds were being managed in 2022 and 2023.
