The House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability on Wednesday ended its probe into the alleged misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds entrusted to Vice President Sara Duterte and the Department of Education, which she previously headed.
The committee, chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua, unanimously adopted the motion of Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano to terminate the investigation.
Chua earlier revealed that 405 out of the 677 names listed as beneficiaries of DepEd’s confidential funds under Duterte have no birth records.
Chua said this was a clear indication that the names were fabricated.
He said the committee report will likely be released “next week.”
Several members of the committee earlier said the Vice President and certain officials from the OVP and DepEd may face charges of plunder, technical malversation of public funds and falsification of public documents over the questionable use of confidential funds.
Last week, House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union exposed a string of bogus and suspicious names allegedly listed as beneficiaries of the OVP confidential funds—including surnames eerily similar to sitting senators, a congressman, and even a famous bakeshop brand.
“These irregularities are too glaring to ignore—these names from the supposed ‘Budol Gang’ call for a deeper look,” Ortega said.
Ortega said he found out individuals with surnames of current senators: “Beth Revilla,” “Janice Marie Revilla,” “Diane Maple Lapid,” “John A. Lapid Jr.,” “Clarisse Hontiveros,” “Kristine Applegate Estrada,” and “Denise Tanya Escudero” as alleged beneficiaries of confidential funds.
Beyond the now-notorious “Mary Grace Piattos,” Ortega highlighted new entries such as “Cannor Adrian Contis,” along with individuals bearing the surname “Solon” — Kris Solon and Paul M. Solon, a surname similar to Sarangani Rep. Steve Chiongbian Solon.
“Mary Grace Piattos isn’t the only café-restaurant named after Contis. When your office has confidential funds, do you also have a sweet tooth?” the lawmaker said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The lawmaker added that the frequency and creativity of the names no longer seem coincidental and could point to a systemic attempt to allegedly obscure confidential fund transactions.
“We are talking about public funds. If they can’t show evidence that these people are real, this itself will be strong evidence against him in the impeachment trial,” Ortega said.
Similar to previously flagged entries, Ortega said the newly surfaced names did not appear in official birth, marriage, or death records from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
