Duterte’s confidential funds brouhaha

Who is Mary Grace Piattos? Why does she not have a birth record at the Philippine Statistics Authority? Does she really exist? Why was she a recipient of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds? Did Sara misuse her confidential funds?

These are just some of the questions that need to be answered by VP Sara during the House Investigation in aid of legislation, but she opted not to present her side. For some, her no-show manifests arrogance.

However, others believe that Sara is not arrogant but simply smart enough not to answer it before the House hearing because she already knew her enemies’ agenda. She said that some of her congressmen friends had tipped her off that the main objective of the investigation is not really in aid of legislation, but rather a fishing expedition to lay the groundwork for an impeachment complaint against her.

Sara, during media interviews explained that she did not misuse her confidential funds. She stated that she had already submitted all the necessary documents to the Commission on Audit (COA), the proper agency responsible for auditing all expenses, including confidential funds. There was no need for her to explain herself to the House, whose agenda, she believes, is to impeach her. True enough, an impeachment complaint has already been filed against her.

While the House continued to scrutinize the confidential funds, Sara’s position remained clear: she could not divulge such information because it is classified --that is precisely why it is called “confidential”. She also stated in an interview that revealing the details could endanger lives.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires was more emphatic on this regard during the house investigation: “Pagni-require nyo po ang ahensya ng gobyerno na may confidential fund na mag-submit ng resibo ay hindi na po confidential fund yon.” He further said, “mula po na akoy maging ombudsman wala po nagsabi sa akin na mag-submit po kami ng resibo dahil, paano ko po reresibuhan ang isang intelligence officer na sinuyo ko na tingnan ang isang bagay.” That’s clear as noon daylight.

If it bothers you why a certain “Mary Grace Piattos” appears in the OVP report, it could be that the name is simply a code, not a real person, because that’s how intelligence operations work. You cannot just reveal the name of someone serving as a secret agent, deep penetrating agent, or a spy involved in intelligence work. Doing so could endanger their life or the safety of their family.

Granting for the sake of argument, if we are to investigate every detail of how the OVP’s confidential funds have been spent, we must also ensure that we investigate all agencies and offices with budgets for confidential funds.

The following offices have confidential funds: the Mayor’s office, the Governor’s office, the Office of the President, the DND, AFP, DILG, PNP, the Office of the DILG Secretary, the Department of Agriculture, the DOJ, the Office of the DOJ Secretary, the Bureau of Immigration, the NBI, the Office of the Solicitor General, the DSWD, the AMLC, the Office of the Ombudsman, the COA, the CHR, the PDEA, the Games and Amusement Board, and others.

So, the unavoidable questions are the following: Why single out Sara? Why are they not investigating other agencies? Why are they not interested in investigating the Office of the President, which has the highest confidential funds, amounting to ?4.5 billion? Are they not curious about the codes or names other agencies use to protect their agents? Of course, it is most likely that they are not using real names to protect the lives of their spies or assets.

Hence, COA’s way of scrutinizing such budgets is distinct and separate from other budgets. Are the congressmen innocent in this or are they just pretending to be?