'Amoy Liu,' 'Joug De Asim' among new names revealed as OVP confidential funds recipients
More names have been identified as individuals who allegedly received questionable confidential funds from Vice President Sara Duterte's office.
On March 23, House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union revealed that "Amoy Liu," "Fernan Amuy," and "Joug De Asim," were among the list of supposed fund recipients submitted by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education to the Commission on Audit.
These names in "Team Amoy Asim," according to Ortega, have no birth, marriage, or death records in the Philippine Statistics Authority's database.
"Una, may chichirya, may cellphone, at may prutas. Sumunod ang ‘Dodong Gang.’ Ngayon naman, nandito na ang ‘Team Amoy Asim.’ Kung sa listahan pa lang ay maasim na ang dating ng pekeng mga pangalan, paano pa kaya sa mga transaksyon mismo?" Ortega said in a statement, as per ABS-CBN News.
The additional names followed unusual monikers like "Mary Grace Piattos," "Renan Piatos," "Pia Piatos-Lim," "Xiaome Ocho," "Jay Kamote," "Miggy Mango," and five people named "Dodong," which the lawmaker flagged last March 16.
"Anong klaseng payroll ito? Imaginary? Hindi natin matukoy kung totoong tao ba ang mga tumanggap ng perang galing sa CIF,” Ortega previously said.
Lawmakers first raised suspicions about the recipients of the confidential funds with a certain "Mary Grace Piattos," whose signature appeared in acknowledgment receipts. They pointed out that Mary Grace is the name of a cafe while Piattos is the name of a chip brand.
The Philippine Statistics Authority has previously said that 1,332 of the 1,992 names listed as recipients of the OVP's P500 million confidential funds have no birth records.
Duterte has been in hot water for the alleged misuse of funds for her offices' programs and her refusal to answer questions regarding her offices' expenses, particularly the confidential funds worth P775 million for the OVP and DepEd during her budget proposal's first hearing. She was seeking a P2.037-billion budget for 2025, which was cut to P733 million. Her office has a P1.885-billion budget for 2024.
Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives in February, with 215 congresspeople endorsing the verified complaint against her.
In a prepared statement, the House leadership said that the grounds for Duterte's impeachment are a "series of grave allegations, including conspiracy to assassinate Marcos, large-scale corruption, abuse of public funds, and involvement in extrajudicial killings."
In the same month, the vice president filed a Supreme Court petition challenging the validity of the impeachment complaint.
Senate President Chiz Escudero said Duterte's impeachment trial will start after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s fourth State of the Nation Address in July.
Duterte is in the Netherlands following her father Rodrigo Duterte's International Criminal Court arrest.
