A NEW set of recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds was disclosed yesterday by an administration lawmakers, and they include some apparently named after incumbent senators and a popular restaurant.
Among the supposed recipients of the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President are “Beth Revilla,” “Janice Marie Revilla,” “Diane Maple Lapid,” “John A. Lapid Jr.,” “Clarisse Hontiveros,” “Kristine Applegate Estrada,” and “Denise Tanya Escudero,” according to La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V.
“This gang of scammers did not even spare the Senate. They used the surnames of our esteemed senators. That’s how blatant the list of supposed beneficiaries of the OVP’s confidential funds is,” Ortega said in mixed Filipino and English.
Ortega’s disclosure was made as the Senate is set to officially start the impeachment process for the Vice President who is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
Senate President Francis Escudero yesterday said the formal presentation of the Articles of Impeachment by the House of Representatives will be moved to June 11 from June 2 to allow the Senate to tackle important legislative measures before the 19th Congress adjourns sine die on June 14.
Escudero said that all matters pertaining to the impeachment trial will formally commence on June 11, including the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment, the Senate convening as an impeachment court, oath taking of senators as judges of the impeachment court, and sending out summonses.
The formal presentation of the Articles of Impeachment will trigger the Senate to convene as an impeachment court. The Senate will receive the Articles of Impeachment in June 11 at 4 p.m.
Escudero said he informed Speaker Martin Romualdez of the change in schedule through a letter, a copy of which was also sent to the Office of the Vice President.
He said Congress adjourns sine die on June 14 and with just six session days left, the passage of priority measures should be put first in their agenda.
BAKESHOP
One recipient in the new list is “Cannor Adrian Contis,” who seems to have been named after a popular restaurant and bakeshop, similar to the now infamous “Mary Grace Piattos,” the first name of which appears to have been taken from a café-restaurant chain and a local potato chips brand.
Ortega said other recipients are named “Kris Solon” and “Paul M. Solon,” whose surnames happen to be the same as that of Sarangani Rep. Steve Chiongbian Solon.
“These irregularities are too glaring to ignore. These names from the supposed Budol Gang call for a deeper look,” he said.
Like all previously flagged entries, Ortega said these names have no official birth, marriage, or death record in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
All newly flagged names were listed as recipients of the OVP’s P500 million confidential funds disbursed in 2023.
Last week, broadcast media also reported that there were recipients named after actress Marian Rivera and incoming Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, which the House leadership said should also be looked into by the PSA and the National Bureau of Investigation.
Ortega said the “frequency and creativity of the names no longer seem coincidental and could point to a systemic attempt to allegedly obscure confidential fund transactions.”
“We’re talking about public funds. If they can’t show evidence that these are real people, this will be used as strong evidence against her in the impeachment trial,” he said.
BURDEN
The Commission on Audit, in a circular, requires that the real names of confidential fund (CF) recipients be kept sealed and locked in a vault if the beneficiaries are involved in sensitive intelligence work. Agencies must maintain sealed logs linking aliases to real, verifiable identities, to prevent fraudulent use of public funds and failing to abide by the rules may constitute misuse of state resources.
“If they can’t explain who really accepted the funds, the burden falls squarely on the Vice President,” Ortega said.
Ortega earlier bared other bogus names in the list of Duterte’s CF recipients such as Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, and Joel Linangan, Fiona Ranitez, Erwin Q. Ewan, Ellen Magellan, Gary Tanada.
Other fake names were from “Team Grocery,” he said, like Beverly Claire Pampano, Mico Harina, Ralph Josh Bacon, Patty Ting, and Sala Casim while “Team Amoy Asim” includes Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy, and Joug De Asim.
The PSA, based on acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP to the COA as proof of confidential fund utilization, has found that among 1,992 listed recipients, 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, has also revealed that 405 out of the 677 names listed as beneficiaries of the Department of Education’s CF under Duterte have no birth records.
Duterte’s alleged illegal use of P612.5 million in CF during her concurrent tenure as Vice President and as former education secretary is among the specific acts cited in the seven Articles of Impeachment against her.
The impeachment complaint cited the Vice President’s spending of P125 million out of P612.5 million in confidential funds in just 11 days in December 2022 and her use of the confidential funds even if she does not have a mandate under the law to conduct intelligence or surveillance operations.
Duterte is also accused of approving the release of a P112.5 million in confidential funds when she was Education secretary, based on liquidation reports identifying the supposed intelligence recipients with fictitious names.
