House Deputy Majority Leader Francisco Paolo Ortega V disclosed on Sunday a new set of allegedly fictitious names linked to Vice President Sara Duterte’s multi-million peso confidential funds.
Ortega stated that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) submitted these names to the Commission on Audit (COA).
The list includes: Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, Fiona Ranitez, Ellen Magellan, Erwin Q. Ewan, Gary Tanada, and Joel Linangan.
Specifically, he alleged that Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, and Joel Linangan were listed as beneficiaries of the OVP’s P500 million confidential funds. Fiona Ranitez, Erwin Q. Ewan, Ellen Magellan, and Gary Tanada purportedly received portions of DepEd’s P112.5 million confidential fund.
The La Union lawmaker emphasized that similar to previously identified questionable names, these new entries lack verification in official birth, marriage, and death records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“The repeated use of fake names that seem to be taken from the cinema and showbiz is not funny,” Ortega stated.
He further asserted: “We are talking about public funds. If they can’t show evidence that these people are real, these will be used as strong evidence against her in the impeachment trial.”
Previously, the DepEd, under Duterte’s leadership, and the OVP submitted documents with allegedly incorrect dates, unsigned signatures, and illegible signatory names to justify the disbursement of confidential funds in 2022 and 2023.
Notably, a “Mary Grace Piattos” was among the questionable signatories, lacking any PSA record.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on February 5, with over 200 lawmakers endorsing the complaint. Duterte has since filed a Supreme Court petition challenging the impeachment’s validity.