‘Piatos’ joins ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ in OVP confidential fund controversy

MANILA, Philippines — Following the controversy over “Mary Grace Piattos,” another similarly named recipient, “Renan Piatos,” emerged in discussions on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

At Monday’s Senate impeachment trial, prosecution lawyer Lorna Kapunan presented an acknowledgment report covering OVP confidential fund expenses, purportedly signed by Renan Piatos—whose surname is spelled with a single “T”—for a P110,000 payment for information.

Kapunan then asked the prosecution’s witness, Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Roderick Wamil, as to what his observations were regarding the AR signed by Piatos.

Wamil said it cannot be allowed because it was received on December 27, 2023, which is way beyond the validity of the 2022 fourth quarter CF allocated to OVP.

“I will show you another document, marked for the prosecution, P-1-8-619, another Piatos, named Renan Piatos. Ang amount is P110,000 and the date is 12-27-2023 […] What observation can you make or have you made as regards this acknowledgement receipt?” Kapunan asked.

“Based on this acknowledgement receipt, binayad po siya noong December 27, 2023, which one year po after no’ng supposedly coverage ng kanilang cash advance for confidential fund,” Wamil said.

(Based on this acknowledgement receipt, it was paid on December 27, 2023, which is one year after the supposed coverage of their cash advance for confidential funds.)

Kapunan asked what should be the correct date for the release of the CF payouts, to which Wamil said that he cannot ascertain the true date of the release of funds.

However, upon clarification from Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero, Wamil noted that the payouts should have been made between December 21, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

“I cannot determine the correct date based on this document pero dapat po kasi eh pasok siya sa coverage ng kanilang cash advance based on the documents submitted to ICFAO (Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office),” Wamil said.

(I cannot determine the correct date based on this document but this should have been made within the coverage of their cash advance based on the documents submitted to ICFAO (Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office).)

“With the permission of counsel, December 21 to December 31, 2022 ‘yong covered period ng disbursement nitong confidential funds, Mr. Wamil, right?” Escudero asked.

“So when you say hindi pasok do’n sa period na ‘yon, no’ng December 21 to December 31, 2022. Dahil 2023 na nakalagay na taon supposedly, tama?”

(With the permission of counsel, December 21 to December 31, 2022 is the covered period of disbursement of these confidential funds, Mr. Wamil, right? So when you say it did not fall within that period, that’s from December 21 to December 31, 2022, because it was supposedly released in 2023, right?)

“Yes po your Honor,” Wamil said.

Renan Piatos is one of the three individuals with similar sounding names in the voluminous list of ARs under the OVP, for its confidential expenditures.

Renan’s signature on the AR was first revealed in March 2025, when House of Representatives lawmakers analyzed the documents from COA-ICFAO.

In a statement last March 26, 2025, Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V — who was then deputy majority leader of the 19th Congress — said that apparent “relatives” of Mary Grace Piattos were among the other recipients of CFs from Duterte’s offices.

The other name is a certain Pia Piatos-Lim, which uses the same surname spelling as Renan Piatos.

During the 11th day of Duterte’s trial, the AR signed by Mary Grace Piattos’ was also brought up. Kapunan also asked Wamil about the AR, to which the COA personnel said that the transaction violated the Joint Circular No. 2015-01 that mandates the use of confidential and intelligence funds.

According to Wamil, the transaction involving Mary Grace Piattos — P70,000 worth of medicines as reward — cannot be allowed since OVP did not attach any document that would prove that information gathering was successful.

“Since it is payment of rewards, it is not enough to show acknowledgement receipts, they need to comply with the provisions of the Joint Circular as to the payment of rewards,” Wamil said.

“So this Mary Grace Piattos acknowledgement receipt, you are saying that it is a violation of the Joint Circular, and why?” Kapunan asked.

“Because it is not properly supported by documents evidencing success po, which is required under 4.8.5 of the Joint Circular 2015-01,” Wamil replied.

After Kapunan’s presentation of the ARs involving Mary Grace Piattos and Renan Piatos, the lawyer showed more documents — and poked fun at them.

Kapunan showed ARs for a certain Andy Lim and Alejandro Pikit — which she jokingly said was the reason why she found it difficult to read Lim’s name because it sounds like “ang dilim” — Filipino for ‘it’s dark.’

And the reason why it is dark, she said, is because maybe someone’s eyes are closed — or “pikit.”

Defense panel member Michael Poa objected to Kapunan’s line of questioning, saying that the latter supposedly puts more “color” to the names stated in the ARs. But Kapunan countered, saying that she was merely stating the Filipino meaning of the names mentioned.

“Your Honor I’m just reading, it says here, it says Andy Lim,” Kapunan said.

“It’s like Patty Ting, it’s the way it’s spelled, and the next one, maybe you will object again, it’s Alejandro A. Pikit. I was gonna say maybe the reason why it’s dark is because someone’s eyes are closed.”

“Exactly our point, your Honor,” Poa noted.

Eventually, Escudero asked Kapunan to move forward “accordingly.”

Wamil is the third witness presented by the prosecution for Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, which deals with alleged CF misuse in Duterte’s offices.

The CF issue is an integral part of the allegations against Duterte, as a huge amount of the expenses made through these secret funds have been disallowed by the Commission on Audit — P375 million CF expenditures made by the OVP in 2023, and another P73 million CF for 2022.

Prior to this testimony, Wamil said that the reason why only the OVP and Department of Education (DepEd) under Duterte were audited for CF expenses was because past iterations of these offices did not have such appropriations.

Wamil — who from 2014 to 2024 was part of COA-ICFAO — said that he did not do checks on former Vice Presidents Jejomar Binay and Leni Robredo because they had no CF appropriations.

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