The House of Representatives will review confidential fund records from the Office of the Vice President to confirm if the individuals listed actually received public money, House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V said during a press conference on Monday. Ortega noted that 942 names—670 from the OVP’s acknowledgement receipts and 272 from the Department of Education—have been confirmed by the Philippine Statistics Authority as legitimate entries and will now undergo further verification.
The review involves examining roughly 4,000 acknowledgement receipts to determine the true beneficiaries of the funds. This effort comes in the wake of findings showing discrepancies among the records: out of 1,992 supposed OVP recipients, 1,322 lacked birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records, and 1,593 were missing death records. In a similar revelation, 405 of the 677 names listed as beneficiaries of DepEd’s confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte were found to have no birth records.
Ortega stressed that confirming whether these names belong to real individuals is as important as identifying fictitious entries. He pointed out that some of the names appear to be fabricated or playful, citing examples such as “Beverly Claire Pampano,” “Mico Harina,” and “Xiaome Ocho.” He also mentioned a group of names informally labeled as “Team Amoy Asim,” which includes entries like Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy, and Joug De Asim, as well as names like Mary Grace Piattos that seem to combine familiar brand names.
Emphasizing the importance of adhering to established guidelines, Ortega remarked, “It’s simple—just follow the procedures for using confidential funds.” He added that any conclusive answers regarding these discrepancies might ultimately be addressed through the impeachment process.