By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution will turn to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) records to challenge the identities of alleged recipients of confidential funds whose names appeared in acknowledgment receipts, House prosecutor Terry Ridon said Friday.
Ridon said the prosecution is set to present a PSA witness who will testify on individuals whose names could not be located in civil registry records, as prosecutors seek to establish that some of the supposed recipients were fictitious.
Among the names being questioned are “Mary Grace Piattos” and “Milky Secuya,” which appeared in acknowledgment receipts used to account for millions of pesos in government funds.
“So we can really show that these people are fake, fictitious,” Ridon said during an online press briefing.
The prosecution will also call National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) forensic document examiners to examine the handwriting and signatures appearing on the acknowledgment receipts.
Ridon said the NBI had examined 36 original receipts and found that some documents bearing different names of supposed recipients appeared to have been written or signed by the same individuals.
The documents are central to the prosecution’s effort to trace the movement of the confidential funds, he said, because the acknowledgment receipts represent the point where the documented trail of the money ends.
“And of course, that is where we can see that the acknowledgment receipts are where the presentation of the flow of these confidential funds ends,” Ridon said.
The prosecution’s planned presentation of PSA civil registry records and NBI forensic findings is expected to put the identities and signatures appearing on the receipts under closer scrutiny as the impeachment proceedings continue.
ia/xf
