Senators’ surnames, bakeshop name spotted in OVP secret fund receipts
MANILA, Philippines — Several names bearing resemblance to incumbent lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate, along with one similar to another famous bakeshop / restaurant were found among the latest list of confidential fund beneficiaries from Vice President Sara Duterte’s office, La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said on Thursday.
Among the names discovered were Cannor Adrian Contis — which is similar to a well-known local coffee shop’s name, which also happens to be a direct competitor of the coffee shop supposedly used to create the identity of Mary Grace Piattos.
“It was not only Mary Grace Piattos who was named after a café-restaurant, even Contis was used. If your office has confidential funds, does it mean you also have a sweet tooth?,” Ortega said.
“These irregularities are too glaring to ignore—these names from the supposed Budol Gang call for a deeper look,” he added.
The other names in the list that Ortega released include:
- Beth Revilla
- Janice Marie Revilla
- Diane Maple Lapid
- John A. Lapid Jr.
- Clarisse Hontiveros
- Kristine Applegate Estrada
- Denise Tanya Escudero
- Kris Solon
- Paul M. Solon
“This gang has even used the senators’ names to trick people. They have dragged esteemed senators’ surnames, it only shows how greedy they were that they have to invent names just to fill up the list of supposed beneficiaries of OVP’s confidential funds. The repeated use of fake names and names sourced from celebrities are not funny,” he stressed.
“Then there’s a ‘Solon’ surname which happens to be the surname of our colleague, Congressman Steve Solon.
It was also Ortega who had previously released the peculiar names of alleged CF beneficiaries from the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), which the vice president once headed.
The various discoveries made by Ortega and other lawmakers revealed that these individuals signed off on acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for CF expenditures made by OVP and DepEd.
ARs are proof of payment, or that funding for projects reached its intended beneficiaries — and in the case of OVP and DepEd, some of these are informants who provided confidential information to officials.
This is required by the Commission on Audit, especially for payees that are not business entities.
Last April, Ortega released the most-recent batch of weird names in ARs — including multiple “Fionas” which refers to a character from fantasy film Shrek; a “Magellan”, which refers to Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who landed in Leyte in 1521; and another individual with the surname “Ewan”, which is a Filipino slang for ‘I don’t know.’
READ: ‘Magellan,’ ‘Fiona’ found on list of VP Duterte secret fund recipients
Previously, Ortega also released a set of names said to be from a grocery shopping list, while there were some names that sounded like a phone brand — Xiaome Ocho.
READ: Piattos’ kin, ‘Xiaome Ocho’ also got VP Sara Duterte’s funds – Ortega
The discovery of odd names started during the investigation of the House committee on good government and public accountability, when Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop noticed that one of the individuals who signed the ARs was named Mary Grace Piattos — a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand.
Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.
However, the signatures and handwriting used by the Villamin in the two documents differed.
Both names — Piattos and Villamin — were also not present in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) registry for live birth, death, and marriage.
Eventually, the different findings of the committee were included in the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte.
Last February 5, Duterte was impeached after 215 House lawmakers verified this fourth complaint.
Aside from the CF issue, among the articles of impeachment was Duterte’s assassination threats to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
READ: House impeaches Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate
The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-third of all House members—in this case, just 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.
Trial did not start immediately because the articles of impeachment were not forwarded to the Senate plenary before the session ended last February 5. However, recent developments indicate that the proceedings may start soon, with House prosecutors invited to be present before the Senate on Monday, June 2, to read the articles of impeachment.
