By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet

The House of Representatives, in a statement released Monday, said that the non-spurious names listed in the confidential funds disbursement of Vice President Sara Duterte shall be verified for authenticity by the lawmakers to confirm if any of them actually received public money.

This development comes after House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V released the latest batch of bogus names of alleged OVP confidential funds’ beneficiaries on March 30, which include Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, and Joel Linangan.

Also included were names such as Beverly Claire Pampano, Mico Harina, Ralph Josh Bacon, Patty Ting and Sala Casim, whom Ortega dubbed as “Team Grocery”.

Another cluster of recipients, dubbed by the lawmaker as “Team Amoy Asim,” includes Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy and Joug De Asim.

Meanwhile, the La Union solon confirmed that 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 exist, are now under scrutiny.

“So, we will do our own siguro mini-investigation, pero nand’yan 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, 1,322 had no birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records, and 1,593 had no death records. This discovery calls for the conduct of a deeper probe into the legitimacy of the names included in the list of OVP confidential funds beneficiaries.

“Well, madami po ‘yung pangalan eh. So, parang ano nga eh, parang teleserye hindi ba? 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,” he added.

Deliberate effort

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.

The lawmaker also suggested that the oddity of the names being unearthed by the committee shows a pattern which suggests a “deliberate effort” to procure funds using shady tactics.

“Well, tingin ko sanay na sila. Alam nila kung paano patakbuhin ‘yong ganitong sistema. You would assume na ganon. Kasi nga po mula pa sa LGU level hanggang dito sa national level may certain form of mastery,” the La Union solon 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 added further.

Earlier, the House 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.” (with report from Mela Lesmoras/PTV News)

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