THE House of Representatives will be verifying the non-spurious names for authenticity listed in the confidential funds disbursement of Vice President Sara Duterte outside of what they considered as fictitious, particularly to confirm if any of them actually received public money.
House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union said 670 names listed in the OVP’s acknowledgment receipts, as well as 272 names from the Department of Education (DepEd) or a total of 942 names that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said exists are now under scrutiny.
“So, we will do our own siguro mini-investigation pero nandyan naman po iyan sa committee level na so makaka-request naman po tayo,” Ortega said.
Out of 1,992 supposed recipients of confidential funds at OVP, Ortega said 1,322 had no birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records, and 1,593 had no death records.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua, chair of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, also revealed earlier that 405 out of the 677 names listed as beneficiaries of DepEd’s confidential funds under Duterte have no birth records, a clear indication that the names were allegedly fabricated.
Ortega added that verifying whether these listed individuals truly exist and received money is vital.
“Maganda rin pong malaman kung nakatanggap nga po ba sila o hindi?” Ortega asked.
He noted that the review of the roughly 4,000 acknowledgment receipts is ongoing due to the sheer volume of entries.
“Well, madami po ‘yung pangalan eh. So, parang ano nga eh, parang teleserye hind iba? Pakonti-konti, may lumalabas. So again, we have to verify. Mas maganda naman po na sigurado po tayo na itong mga pangalan na to eh meron or wala pong records,” Ortega said.
Ortega also pointed out that the Vice President or her team has shown a certain alleged mastery in handling confidential funds, having administered similar resources during her time as mayor of Davao City.
“Well, tingin ko sanay na sila. Alam nila kung paano patakbuhin yung ganitong sistema. More specifically ‘yung sa confidential funds. Sinadya man o hindi, alam nila ‘yung gagawin nila. ‘Yun lang ang aking opinion tungkol dito. May mastery na siguro,” Ortega said.
Asked about the oddity of the names, Ortega said the pattern suggests a deliberate effort.
“Well, tingin ko sanay na sila. Alam nila kung paano patakbuhin yung ganitong sistema,” he said.
“You would assume na ganon. Kasi nga po mula pa sa LGU level hanggang dito sa national level may certain form of mastery,” Ortega said.
He added that this apparent mastery should have made it easier for the OVP to provide clear answers during House hearings.
“Kung may mastery ka na nga, actually dapat mas madali mo na naipaliwanag sana pero baka kailangan pa nila mag-doctorate kung kulang ‘yung masters nila. Kasi nga big question mark po not only in the hearings but during the briefings pa,” Ortega said.
“Sa briefings, sa hearings, wala naman pong napaliwanag, wala naman pong maayos na pagsagot kasi nga parang evasive sila sa issues na ‘yun eh. So mayroon pong procedure diyan, mayroon pong guidelines diyan,” he said.
He noted that if Duterte’s office had asked for an executive session, the House would have considered it.
“Actually nasabi ko ‘yan eh, sa isang interview, na kung humingi silang executive session… Pero they had all the time, they had all the chances, sabi nga nila. Pero wala eh, naging show ‘yung, nagkaroon ng puro drama,” he noted.
Ortega said Duterte had every opportunity to explain the confidential fund disbursement, but chose not to.
“Ang hirap po na tantyahin ‘yung kada-hearing noon, kasi nga laging may ano eh, pagdating dyan sa part na ‘yan hindi na po klaro lahat, wala pong kasagutan. Hanggang ngayon wala pa pong sagot,” he said.
Ortega stressed that such issues may now only be resolved through the ongoing impeachment process.
“Kaya nga sabi ko, sa impeachment na rin siguro magkakaroon ng mas klaro na kasagutan tungkol dito.”
The controversy over Duterte’s confidential funds intensified following the discovery of multiple suspicious names in the OVP’s liquidation documents – many of which appear to be puns or mimic common grocery items.
On Sunday, Ortega bared the latest bogus names that allegedly benefitted from confidential funds that include Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, and Joel Linangan from the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) and Fiona Ranitez, Erwin Q. Ewan, Ellen Magellan, Gary Tanada form the Department of Education.
Other fake names were from “Team Grocery,” such as Beverly Claire Pampano, Mico Harina, Ralph Josh Bacon, Patty Ting and Sala Casim.
Another cluster of recipients dubbed “Team Amoy Asim” includes Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy and Joug De Asim.
The House has also flagged names like Mary Grace Piattos, which combines a popular bakery and snack food, and Xiaome Ocho, which closely resembles a well-known smartphone brand.
If fictitious names were intentionally used, Ortega emphasized, the process should have strictly followed official rules.
“Napaka-simple naman po – susundin lang ‘yung guidelines, may paraan po diyan sa paggamit ng confidential funds, meron pong dapat sundin tungkol diyan.”
