Vice President Sara Duterte questioned the veracity of the list of alleged dubious names that received portions of the confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
Vice President Sara Duterte (MB file photo)
“Ito ba ‘yung walang kamamatayang confidential funds (Is this the never-ending [issue about the] confidential funds)?,” she asked reporters who were at The Hague, Netherlands, when asked about the new list of names released by House Deputy Majority Leader Francisco Paolo Ortega V.
Duterte expressed doubt on the list, saying that she is unsure if it is the same list submitted by the OVP.
“Di namin alam (We really don’t know) how they handled the chain of evidence talaga. Hindi natin alam kung iyan ba talaga ‘yung sinubmit ng Office of the Vice President (We don’t know if that’s the one submitted by the Office of the Vice President),” she said.
“At this point, hindi natin alam (we really don’t know),” she stressed.
Last Sunday, Ortega said he found seven more questionable names among the recipients of the OVP’s P500-million confidential funds.
The lawmaker described the newest members as “Budol (Scam) Gang.”
Of the seven new names he found, five share the same name: Dodong Alcala, Dodong Bina, Dodong Bunal, Dodong Darong, and Dodong S. Barok.
There was also a Jay Kamote and Miggy Mango.
These new names joined other names—Mary Grace Piattos, Fernando Tempura, Xiaome Ocho, Chippy McDonald, and Carlos Miguel Oishi, among others—who allegedly received funds from the OVP.
Records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed there were no birth records for a Mary Grace Piattos or a Xiaome Ocho. Ortega said the five “Dodongs,” Kamote, and Mango also had no birth, marital, or death records with the PSA.
Duterte’s allegedly questionable spending of her office’s confidential funds led to her impeachment by the House of Representatives last Feb. 5.
She is expected to face an impeachment trial in the Senate this July.