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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
February 4, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte is ready to unwrap the identity of “Mary Grace Piattos” if the Senate decides to proceed with an impeachment trial, according to her defense team.
“While it may be a cliché, we have been saying that we will answer it (issue on Mary Grace Piattos) in the appropriate forum. This is the appropriate forum, the impeachment. To answer the confidential activities, there are restrictions as it might jeopardize the ongoing operations. In fact, under Republic Act 3019, disclosing confidential information to unauthorized people is punishable… but here in the impeachment, if it is the proper forum, we can finally disclose it and we’ve been preparing for that too,” lawyer Michael Poa told radio dzMM.
Among the bases for the impeachment raps against Duterte were the aliases of the confidential fund recipients, among them “Mary Grace Piattos,” a combination of a popular restaurant and a local snack brand.
Last year, House deputy speaker and Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun revealed that Piattos allegedly received the largest share of confidential funds disbursed by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2022.
The controversy centered on 158 acknowledgment receipts attached to liquidation reports submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit.
Lawmakers suspected the receipts were fabricated or hastily prepared to justify P125 million in confidential funds that were allegedly spent in just 11 days.
“Of course, we want to answer all of these, so that we can prove that the criticisms of corruption against the Vice President are really baseless,” Poa noted.
“As far as the defense is concerned, we are pretty much focused on that (trial). In fact, even last year, we expected a full-blown trial as we do not know what the SC’s decision will be, so we’re really preparing for trial,” he added.
Poa said the members of Duterte’s defense team are still the same, including those from the Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm.
“The legal team is a combination of my team. Of course, we also have the Fortun Narvasa. We also have Atty. Mark Vinluan and Atty. Ralph Bodota,” he said.
Aside from Poa, Vinluan and Bodota, the 16-member legal team include Philip Sigfrid Fortun, Gregorio Narvasa II, Sheila Sison, Carlo Joaquin Narvasa, Roberto Batungbacal, Justin Nicol Gular, Lindon Miguel Bacquel, David Ronell Golla VII, Maria Selena Golda Fortun, Clarlaine Radoc, Francesca Marie Flores, Miguel Carlos Fernandez and Reynold Munsayac.
“Actually, the defense team did not stop its work even with the SC decision. Regularly, we still meet. We are still fine-tuning our preparations for last year’s impeachment. It’s business as usual because our preparations haven’t stopped,” Poa said.
According to Poa, he and the Vice President talk on a daily basis.
“She has been very hands on. Was she cool about it? To be honest, she was not surprised. In fact, she even told us before, ‘if we get through this year, next year it will happen again. Maybe if we get through this year, maybe in 2027 it will happen again.’ So she has prepared the defense team to expect such impeachment complaints to continue,” Poa said.
‘About time’
For House deputy minority leader and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, it is about time to hold the Vice President accountable for her alleged offenses.
“First, we believe in the causes of the complainants. Second, we believe that there are sufficient grounds and impeachable offenses that could be proven during the hearings of the committee on justice,” De Lima, who endorsed the Tindig Pilipinas suit along with Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña, said in a statement.
“Hold Sara Duterte accountable now, forthwith,” she added. — Jose Rodel Clapano
