Lawmaker sees pattern in VP Sara confidential fund recipients

A LAWMAKER on Monday said a clear pattern has emerged in the disbursement of confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte with the repeated appearance of dubious names among the listed beneficiaries.

House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V was referring to newly discovered suspicious names -- Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy and Joug De Asim -- that added to the list of alleged recipients of confidential funds from the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte's tenure as secretary.

"Kitang-kita po niyo, the pattern is the same. Pareho po 'yung situation nung Mary Grace Piattos, si Miggy Mango, si Jay Kamote, saka 'yung ibang pangalan (You can clearly see the pattern is the same. The situation is the same for Mary Grace Piattos, Miggy Mango, Jay Kamote, and the others)," Ortega said in an interview.

Ortega said all names discovered in the investigation have no birth, marriage or death records in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database.

"'Yung parang bago na Asim gang, galing po ito sa listahan ng DepEd as confirmed by 'yung PSA po (This new Asim Gang comes from DepEd's list, as confirmed by PSA)," he said.

Other suspicious names were Renan Piatos, Pia Piatos-Lim, Xiaome Ocho and five individuals named "Dodong."

"Klaro naman po na malalaki 'yung disbursements. Pero ang question po talaga kasi sa lahat, 'yung paraan po ng paglabas ng pera (It is clear that the disbursements were huge. But the real question is how the money was released)," Ortega said.

He questioned why there was no clear documentation to back up these transactions.

Ortega also highlighted that previous House of Representatives’ investigations already raised concerns about the Office of the Vice President and DepEd's fund disbursements under Duterte's leadership, but they remain unaddressed.

With the Senate impeachment trial set to begin in June, Ortega said it is time for Duterte to provide answers.

"Masasagot na po 'yan during the impeachment. Wala na pong rason bakit hindi masagot (Those questions will be answered during the impeachment trial. There is no more reason not to answer)," he said.

Ortega said out of 1,992 listed beneficiaries of OVP confidential funds, 1,322 had no birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records, and 1,593 had no death records.

Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua also revealed that 405 out of the 677 names listed as beneficiaries of DepEd confidential funds under Duterte have no birth records. (Filane Mikee Cervantes)