黑料社

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� With more dubious and fake names surfacing among supposed recipients of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education鈥檚 (DepEd) P612.5-million confidential funds (CFs), an administration lawmaker on Sunday maintained that Vice President Sara Duterte can no longer afford to keep mum as these could serve as direct proof of her alleged misuse of public money.

A prosecutor at the House of Representatives also advised Duterte to personally face the impeachment court once her trial starts, saying that her absence could indicate she was hiding something and avoiding accountability.

Deputy Majority Leader Francisco Paolo Ortega V on Sunday added eight more names to the list of supposed CF recipients that appear to have been made up from known Filipino personalities and that have no Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) records.

READ: OVP fund recipients have names resembling groceries: Harina, Bacon

Ortega named Honeylet Camille Sy, Feonna Biong, Feonna Villegas, Fiona Ranitez, Ellen Magellan, Erwin Q. Ewan, Gary Tanada, and Joel Linangan, as his new finds of suspicious and fictional-sounding persons who purportedly received CFs from the OVP and the DepEd when Duterte was its secretary.

鈥淭his recurrent use of fake names, which [seems] to have been taken from movies and show business, is no longer funny,鈥� the La Union lawmaker said, adding that it was beginning to show a purported systemic attempt to cover up transactions involving CFs.

鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about public funds here. If they can鈥檛 prove that these people (CF recipients) are real, this would be strong evidence against her in the impeachment trial,鈥� he said.

Ortega pointed out that Sy, Biong, Villegas and Linangan were among the supposed beneficiaries of the OVP鈥檚 P500-million CF while Ranitez, Ewan, Magellan, and Tanada were among the purported recipients of the DepEd鈥檚 P112.5-million CFs. The names were in acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP and the DepEd to the Commission on Audit to justify the spending of the P612.5-million CFs.

He emphasized that the eight names and the previous ones with no existing PSA records could serve as direct evidence of misuse of public funds unless the OVP and the DepEd produce clear and verifiable documents for each name listed as a recipient. 鈥淰P Sara can no longer stay silent,鈥� he said.

鈥淚f the OVP and the DepEd repeatedly used fictitious names [of recipients], it is a strict requirement that they should have a journal documenting the real names,鈥� Ortega said, noting that the absence of such documentation would raise questions on whether the listed recipients exist or were simply used to facilitate questionable disbursements.

He cited Joint Circular 2015-01, which required that the documents stating the real names of confidential and intelligence fund recipients be sealed and placed in a vault.

鈥淪o, with all these aliases used, the burden of proof that they are real people lies with the head of agency, in this case, the Vice President,鈥� he said.