House Deputy Majority Leader Francisco Paolo Ortega V on Sunday bared a new set of dubious names who were allegedly listed as recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s multi-million peso confidential funds.
According to Ortega, the new names that were supposedly submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to the Commission on Audit (COA) included: Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, Fiona Ranitez, Ellen Magellan, Erwin Q. Ewan, Gary Tanada, and Joel Linangan.
He said that Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, and Joel Linangan were listed as alleged beneficiaries of the OVP’s P500 million confidential funds.
Fiona Ranitez, Erwin Q. Ewan, Ellen Magellan, and Gary Tanada allegedly received a portion of DepEd’s P112.5 million confidential fund, he added.
The La Union lawmaker pointed out that like the other questionable names previously disclosed, this new batch of names did not appear in any official birth, marriage, and death records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Hindi nakakatawa ang paulit-ulit na paggamit ng mga pekeng pangalan na parang hinugot mula sa sine at showbiz,” Ortega said in a statement.
(The repeated use of fake names that seem to be taken from the cinema and showbiz is not funny.)
“Public funds ang pinag-uusapan. Kung wala silang maipakitang ebidensya na tunay ang mga taong ito, ito mismo ang magiging matibay na ebidensya laban sa kanya sa impeachment trial,” he added.
(We are talking about public funds. If they can’t show evidence that these people are real, these will be used as strong evidence against her in the impeachment trial.)
GMA News Online asked the OVP for a comment and will update this story once it responds.
To recall, the DepEd, which Duterte previously led, and the OVP had submitted documents with allegedly wrong dates, signatures without names of signatories, and unreadable names of signatories to justify the disbursement of its confidential funds in 2022 and 2023.
Among the infamous signatories was a certain “Mary Grace Piattos,” who has no record with the PSA.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on February 5, with over 200 lawmakers endorsing the complaint.
Duterte has since then filed a Supreme Court petition challenging the validity of the impeachment complaint.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero had said that the decision on the impeachment trial of the Vice President can be rendered by October this year. On June 2, the Senate will resume its session and the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment by the prosecutors, and approval of the revised Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials has been set. Duterte’s impeachment trial will start on July 30. —KG, GMA Integrated News
