The names of 37 people listed as recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds matched Philippine Statistics Authority records of people who had already died when the payments were allegedly made, Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande testified on Monday.
Grande, a witness in Duterte’s impeachment trial, said the names of the fund recipients each matched only a single entry in the PSA records.
Grande said one of these names, Marlin Sunga, matched an individual who died in 1965 when she was only two months old.
Other fund recipients also matched individuals who had been dead for years in 2023, when people with their names received the funds.
These included Fortunato Salig who died in June 2011, Emilio Sagan who died in July 2015, Rodolfo Traya who died in May 2021.
Grande also said there were names among the confidential fund recipients that matched those of minors based on PSA records.
One of them is Miko Alquizar, born in June 2022. The same name appeared on an acknowledgment receipt for confidential funds issued in March 2023.
Another is Beatrice Cuenca, who was born in January 2022. The same name was in an acknowledgment receipt dated March 2023.
Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia asked what information a one-year-old child could have given to Duterte’s office.
Upon questioning by Presiding Officer Francis Escudero, Grande clarified that she was only testifying about what is found in PSA records and not about the acknowledgement receipts, saying she would not be in a position to answer if the names in the records are the ones who signed the receipts.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo said he believes that aliases were used in filling out the acknowledgment receipts, which he said could be justified. But he questioned similar handwritings and signatures.
Divinagracia noted that the defense never raised the use of aliases and said the prosecution worked on the theory that the names of the payees on the acknowledgment receipts were real.
Defense counsel Justin Gular said the Commission on Audit, which the prosecution cited in filing the impeachment case, never mentioned an issue with the names, so the defense had nothing to respond to.
In response, Divinagracia said the articles of impeachment stated that the names in the acknowledgment receipts did not match the PSA records, and the defense never claimed that the names were aliases.
“Assuming, Your Honor, that these are aliases, we respectfully submit that the use of the aliases, if we consider the requirements under the anti-alias law, Your Honor, it’s improper,” she said.