A lawmaker has pointed out a recurring pattern in the disbursement of confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte, highlighting the repeated inclusion of suspicious names among the listed beneficiaries.
House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V on Monday cited newly discovered dubious names—Amoy Liu, Fernan Amuy, and Joug De Asim—which have been added to the growing list of alleged recipients of confidential funds from the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s tenure as secretary.
“You can clearly see the pattern is the same. The situation mirrors that of previously flagged names like Mary Grace Piattos, Miggy Mango, and Jay Kamote,” Ortega said in an interview.
He noted that none of the names under investigation have records of birth, marriage, or death in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database.
“This so-called ‘Asim Gang’ comes from DepEd’s own list, as verified by the PSA,” he added.
Other questionable names include Renan Piatos, Pia Piatos-Lim, Xiaome Ocho, and five individuals all named “Dodong.”
Ortega stressed concerns over the large amounts disbursed and the lack of clear documentation supporting the transactions.
“It’s evident that significant sums were involved. But the real issue is how these funds were released,” he said.
He also pointed out that previous congressional investigations had raised red flags about the handling of confidential funds under Duterte’s leadership in both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd, yet no explanations have been provided.
With the Senate impeachment trial set for June, Ortega urged Duterte to address the concerns.
“These questions will be answered during the impeachment proceedings. There is no reason for them to remain unanswered,” he stated.
According to Ortega, out of 1,992 individuals listed as beneficiaries of the OVP’s confidential funds, 1,322 had no birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records, and 1,593 had no death records.
Similarly, Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua revealed that 405 out of the 677 names listed as recipients of DepEd’s confidential funds under Duterte also lacked birth records.