00:00The Philippine Statistics Authority, or PSA, has submitted an important piece of evidence to the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability
00:07regarding the inquiry on a person named Mary Grace Piatos.
00:11This is expected to prove or disprove whether such an individual exists or not,
00:16which Meda Lasmanas reveals in this report.
00:21Several House leaders believe the Office of the Vice President committed violations
00:26after the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that Mary Grace Piatos,
00:30a supposed recipient of OVP confidential funds, does not exist.
00:34According to a report by the PSA, there is no existing birth certificate, marriage certificate,
00:40or death certificate in the country under the name Mary Grace Piatos.
00:44To recall, during the hearings of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability,
00:49Piatos was identified as one of the individuals who allegedly received confidential funds
00:54from the Office of the Vice President.
00:56So this prompted the panel to request verification from the PSA on whether this person truly exists,
01:02especially since the name seems to be derived from a popular brand of snack and restaurant.
01:07For some lawmakers, this is a proof of irregularities in the usage of funds in the OVP.
01:25...of receipts in order to defend the incorrect use of confidential funds.
01:35If one person is at fault, it gives us reason to also anticipate that the other person is also spurious.
01:44And if this person is spurious on a large scale, we might end up in a technical conversation.
01:50According to Good Government Committee Chair Joel Chua,
01:53this report will come in handy in their future activities and deliberations on certain issues.
01:59Maybe our next step is to check the other names that we will discover.
02:07We also asked for help from the NBI to check the signatures.
02:15For example, the signatures of Kokoy Williamin.
02:19So, let's see. Let's see what the results will be.
02:24Melales Moras from the National TV Network for a new and better Philippines.
