Lawmaker bares more odd names linked to Piattos, OVP confi funds
La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega. —Photo from his Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — New findings unveiled chips’ brand and cellphone model-sounding names linked to Mary Grace Piattos, one of the “nonexistent” recipients of confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) aid program, according to a lawmaker.
House Deputy Majority Leader La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the new findings from the annexes of the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte indicate that “Mary Grace Piattos was not alone.”
READ: House panel to PSA: Verify 1,992 names linked to OVP fund issue
“Two other names, seemingly linked to her, have surfaced — Pia Piatos-Lim and Renan Piatos,” Ortega’s statement issued on Thursday disclosed.
He, however, pointed out that Pia and Renan’s middle and last names only have a single “T.”
Ortega further revealed that another name surfaced similar to the Xiaomi cellphone model from 2018. He said the name “Xiaome Ocho” also appears on the list.
Similarly, these names don’t appear in any birth, marriage, or death records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“We thought only one name was odd on the list of confidential fund recipients. But it seems that there is already a whole family of ‘Piattos’ and even a cellphone model that has joined,” Ortega said in Filipino.
“You’ll be torn between laughing and getting furious when you see ‘Xiaome Ocho’ on the list,” Ortega pointed out,” he added.
The lawmaker cited these findings as one of the reasons why Duterte must answer where the funds go.
“She needs to explain who exactly makes up this ‘Budol Gang’ when she presents her defense at the impeachment trial,” Ortega said.
“We will continue reviewing the documents attached to the impeachment complaint to expose more members of this ‘Budol Gang. The public deserves the truth,” he added.
In December last year, the House committee on good government and public accountability submitted 1,992 individuals linked to the alleged misuse of the OVP confidential funds under the helm of Duterte.
Citing PSA, Ortega said 670 of the 1,992 names had a “most likely match” in PSA records; 1,322 individuals had no birth records; 1,456 had no marriage records (with only 536 possible matches); and 1,593 had no death records (with just 399 possible matches).
Earlier, panel chair Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua said 405 of the 667 names found on the ARs for the CFs of the DepEd have no record with the PSA.
