THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) found that 1,685 out of 2,669 names listed as alleged recipients of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) had no matching birth, marriage, or death records, while other names matched individuals who were already dead, including a recipient record linked to a person who died at only two months old in 1965.
The findings were presented before the Senate Impeachment Court as part of the House of Representatives prosecution team’s effort to challenge the validity of confidential fund liquidation documents submitted under Vice President Sara Duterte.
PSA Assistant National Statistician Marizza B. Grande testified that the agency verified 2,669 alleged payee names, consisting of 1,992 names from the OVP and 677 names from DepEd. The verification involved searching the Civil Registry System (CRS) for birth, marriage, and death records associated with each name.
Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia said the largest group identified during the verification consisted of names with no available civil registry records. She stated that 1,287 names from the OVP list and 398 names from the DepEd list had no recorded birth, marriage, or death entries in the PSA database.
The prosecution also presented at least 37 names that matched death records, including 32 from the OVP list and five from the DepEd list. Among these was the name Marlin Sunga, which matched a PSA death certificate showing that the individual died on November 2, 1965, at only two months old.
Grande explained that the PSA record showed Marlin Sunga as the youngest person identified during the verification process. ‘According to the death certificate, he or she died when he or she was only two months old,’ Grande testified when asked about the youngest person found in the records.
The prosecution said the Sunga record was significant because it appeared among names used in confidential fund documentation covering transactions decades after the recorded death. However, the PSA testimony focused only on the existence of the civil registry record and did not independently establish who used the name in the acknowledgement documents.
25 children
DIVINAGRACIA also cited 25 names matching children’s records, including several individuals whose ages raised questions regarding their inclusion on the confidential fund recipient lists. The prosecution argued that these findings supported its challenge to the authenticity of some names appearing in liquidation reports.
The PSA explained that its verification process categorized names into three possible results: no matching record, multiple possible matches, or a single matching entry. Grande said that among the submitted names, 152 produced single-match entries that allowed the PSA to issue certified copies of corresponding civil registry documents.
The defense questioned parts of the prosecution’s interpretation of the PSA findings, arguing that the witness could not provide conclusions beyond the official records. Defense counsel Justin Nicol Gular maintained that certain issues, particularly those involving signatures and document comparisons, required further examination.
The prosecution responded that Grande’s testimony was only one part of a larger body of evidence. Divinagracia said the PSA records should be considered together with other documents and testimonies already presented before the Impeachment Court.
Grande further explained that PSA verification follows four procedures, beginning with receiving requests from agencies and processing the names through official databases. She said the agency searched birth, marriage, and death records individually based on the information provided by government offices.
The PSA emphasized that a missing record does not automatically prove that a person does not exist, just as a matching record does not alone identify the actual person who signed a receipt. The agency’s role was limited to verifying whether corresponding civil registry records existed.