A name that has drawn public doubt over whether it belongs to a real person has now made its way into the official roster of witnesses prepared by House prosecutors for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Rep. Joel Chua of Manila, one of the prosecutors, confirmed that Mary Grace Piattos was entered into the witness list tied to Article I of the case, the provision alleging that Duterte improperly spent confidential funds while heading the Office of the Vice President.
“Material witness po ‘yan, lalong-lalo na sa confidential funds. Kung hindi siya lumutang, ibig sabihin bogus siya. Kung lumutang naman siya, pwede namin siyang ma-cross examine,” Chua said in an interview on dzBB Super Radyo.
According to Chua, no individual using that name has come forward to the prosecution, and there has been no contact with anyone who could vouch for the person’s existence. The inclusion, he said, forms part of how the prosecution intends to argue the case.
The name itself has been a subject of suspicion, appearing to merge a coffee shop with a packaged snack brand. Earlier checks by the Philippine Statistics Authority turned up no birth, marriage, or death records matching anyone called Mary Grace Piattos. The figure had reportedly surfaced among those said to have received confidential money from the vice president’s office.
The detail emerged through a pretrial brief filed by the prosecution, as reported Thursday, June 25, by Marianne Enriquez of ONE News.
Proceedings have meanwhile reached their fifth day of pretrial conference, during which both the defense and the prosecution are marking the evidence each side intends to present. Senate impeachment court clerk Renato Bantug indicated that a pretrial order may be handed down early next week, possibly Monday or Tuesday, should the marking conclude on Thursday.
Beyond the confidential funds allegations, Duterte stands accused of graft, amassing wealth she has not accounted for, and issuing a grave threat linked to remarks about supposed plans to harm President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Marcos. She has rejected all the accusations against her, and the trial proper is scheduled to open on July 6.
