The discovery of additional fictitious and bogus names in the receipts linked to the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds expose a pattern of alleged financial mismanagement and lack of accountability in handling public funds, House leaders said yesterday
Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union said these transactions form some of the strongest pieces of evidence that will be presented against Vice President Sara Duterte.
“These will be one of the strongest that will be presented, but I probably won’t dwell on specifics since these will be used during the impeachment)
Ortega said the repeated emergence of fabricated names like “Mary Grace Piattos,” “Renan Piatos,” “Pia Piatos,” and even “Xiaome Ocho” reinforces the strength of the impeachment case.
“It’s the same premise po nung sa Mary Grace Piattos, ganon din po kabilang po sila, ‘yung pamilya Piattos, si Renan, si Pia Piatos at tsaka si Xiaome. They are the same situation po ng mga pangalan po na wala naman pong pagkatao,” Ortega said.
Meanwhile, a member of the prosecution team said they were “ready” in case the Senate finally decides to begin the trial.
“Weekly meron kaming meeting, deliberation, preparation about the articles of impeachment that we will be presenting to the impeachment court once the trial commences,” Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro told Teleradyo Serbisyo.
Luistro is among the 11 House members who will serve as prosecutors in Duterte’s impeachment trial.
She said she wanted to be in charge of the second article of impeachment, which tackled Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.
House Assistant Majority Leader Jay Khonghun of Zambales emphasized that as the trial progresses, more details about the questionable fund disbursements will be brought to light, allowing the public to grasp the magnitude of the alleged abuse.
Khonghun said the impeachment trial would reveal the full extent of how fictitious names were allegedly used to liquidate confidential funds, raising serious concerns over the OVP’s financial practices.
These fictitious names, Ortega said, were recorded as recipients of confidential funds, casting serious doubt on the validity of the OVP’s financial records.
This developed as House leaders expressed confidence that the Supreme Court (SC) will uphold the legality of the impeachment proceedings against Duterte, emphasizing that the House of Representatives strictly followed due process in endorsing the complaint.
Ortega dismissed allegations that the House committed any procedural violations, stressing that any legal challenge to the impeachment is merely a delaying tactic.