House Panel Summons ‘Piattos,’ Others

The justice committee of the House of Representatives has issued subpoenas to several individuals, including one “Mary Grace Piattos,” as it prepares to resume on April 14 its hearing on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.

The panel headed by Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro asked Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza to produce “tax records” of Duterte and her lawyer-husband Manases Carpio, especially the nearly two decades of their income tax returns.

Michael Poa, spokesman for the Vice President’s 16-man legal team, said he has “no comment at the moment” when told of the subpoena on Tuesday, April 7.

Lawmakers are seeking “tax compliance and reported income of Duterte, her spouse Carpio and various business entities in which they hold interest,” as well as “original or certified true copies of the Annual Income Tax Returns of Duterte, Carpio for the years 2007 to 2025.”

The order also covers multiple corporations and business interests linked to the couple, including Metro City Chow Foods Corp., Gencorp Industries Inc., Carpio Lawyers, 888 Bistro, CALE88 Foods Corp., Madayaw Fisheries Corp., Mati City Ice Plant and Cold Storage Inc., Amianan Shores Inc., Geometry Security and Investigation Agency Inc. and Cabletow 88 Shipping and Marine Services Inc.

The name “Mary Grace Piattos,” which surfaced during House quad committee hearings last year, was supposedly one of the informant-recipients of the more than P612-million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President. The Philippine Statistics Authority would later certify that it has no record of birth or death of any individual named Mary Grace Piattos.

Also directed by the justice committee to attend the April 14 hearing and shed light on Duterte’s confidential funds was State Auditor V Gloria Camora of the Commission on Audit.

In its subpoena, the committee said it wants “all the submissions by the OVP to COA in relation to the liquidation of confidential funds” across multiple quarters, including checks, disbursement vouchers, liquidation reports, certifications and accomplishment reports, as well as proof of submissions to Malacañang, the Senate and the House.

The Luistro committee also summoned lawyer Cynthia Viñas-Pantonal who notarized the affidavit of Duterte’s self-confessed bagman, Ramil Lagunoy Madriaga, currently detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

The Luistro panel is conducting hearings to determine whether there is sufficient basis to elevate the impeachment complaints against Duterte to the plenary for possible transmittal to the Senate.

Meanwhile, one of the lawyers of Duterte said that if something bad happens to Madriaga, his handlers and not the Vice President should be blamed for it.

“We have no interest in him dying or getting hurt. In fact, what I want to say to our countrymen is if something happens to Madriaga, maybe his handlers are behind this because if Madriaga comes out, we feel like we can prove that his testimonies against VP Sara are fabricated,” lawyer Paolo Panelo said over radio dzRH.

Panelo is the legal counsel of Duterte in her perjury complaint against Madriaga before the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office. Madriaga claimed that drug lords and Chinese-sponsored Phil-ippine offshore gaming operators bankrolled her campaign for vice president.

“Eventually, he (Madriaga) will be able to point out who instigated him to do this against VP Sara,” Panelo said.

He described as “comical” the claim of Madriaga that former Negros Oriental representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. wanted him dead.

“They (lawmakers) moved to augment the security of Madriaga. We don’t have an issue with that because, as I said before, we want him to testify because for us, if he testifies, the whole world will see that he’s lying,” Panelo added.

He said Madriaga shifted his narrative to “insinuate that Duterte, through Teves, is behind the alleged threat to his life since his lie was exposed.”

“When we filed a perjury complaint, suddenly there was a death threat, suddenly there was a bribery attempt to stop him from testifying… We want him to testify…he should be careful with the people behind his affidavit,” Panelo added. – With Bella Cariaso