Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Don't look now but more supposedly fake, absurdly named recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte's confidential funds have been uncovered.

House Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V on Sunday, March 16 exposed the inclusion of a so-called “Dodong Gang” and individuals named “Jay Kamote” and “Miggy Mango" in the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) of submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA) by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

Ortega said the discovery of more suspicious names highlights the extent of the alleged fraudulent use of up to P612.5 million worth of confidential funds, which included allocations to the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte's time at the helm of the agency.

“Una, may chichirya at cellphone. Ngayon, may prutas at kamote na. At higit sa lahat, mukhang ‘Dodong Gang’ na ito! Hindi lang isa, hindi lang tatlo—limang Dodong ang nasa listahan,” Ortega said.

(At first there were junk food and cellphone names. Now there are fruits and sweet potatoes. On top of this we now have a Dodong Gang! Not one, not three--but five Dodongs are on the list.)

Ortega identified the five Dodong secret funds recipients as follows Dodong Alcala, Dodong Bina, Dodong Bunal, Dodong Darong, and Dodong S. Barok.

Also flagged were “Jay Kamote” and “Miggy Mango,” whose names resemble a root crop and a fruit rather than legitimate confidential fund recipients.

These names follow the earlier exposure of alleged fake recipients “Mary Grace Piattos,” “Pia Piatos-Lim", and “Renan Piatos", whose surnames mimicked a potato chips brand, as well as “Xiaome Ocho", which sounded like a well-known smartphone.

Like the previously flagged dubious names, “Jay Kamote,” “Miggy Mango,” and the five Dodongs have no birth, marriage, or death records at the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), yet appeared in the OVP’s confidential fund reports.

The PSA’s findings have earlier exposed  the questionable nature of the confidential fund disbursements under Vice President Duterte. Of the 1,992 supposed fund recipients, records show that 1,322 had no birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records, and 1,593 had no death records.

“Anong klaseng payroll ito? Imaginary? Hindi natin matukoy kung totoong tao ba ang mga tumanggap ng perang galing sa CIF (What kind of payroll is this? An imaginary one? We can't determine if these confidential and intelligence funds recipients are real),” Ortega pointed out.

The PSA certifications, dated Dec. 8 and Dec. 11, 2024, were submitted to the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability or the Blue Ribbon Committee and now form a key part of the impeachment case against the Vice President.

Ortega argued that these findings further strengthen the case for impeachment, which is centered on the questionable use of P612.5 million in confidential fund allocations under the OVP and DepEd.

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte last Feb. 5. She is awaiting her impeachment trial before the Senate.