Ortega: OVP, DepEd had chance to clear fund issue but they chose not to

La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega. Photo from Ortega Facebook page.

MANILA, Philippines – Both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) could have resolved issues surrounding their confidential fund (CF) use, but they did not use available channels, La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said on Monday.

Ortega, during a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa, was asked about claims from Vice President Sara Duterte’s supporters online that the allegedly fictitious names appearing in acknowledgment receipts (ARs) of CF disbursements were just made up by the House.

Over the past few months, lawmakers, particularly Ortega and members of the House committee on good government and public accountability, have revealed that there were peculiar names on ARs, like a certain Mary Grace Piattos — whose name did not appear on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database.

The lawmaker said that the documents used by the House were legitimate and that Duterte’s offices have failed to address this issue squarely.

“Sabi ko nga, sa briefings, sa hearings, wala naman pong napaliwanag, wala naman pong maayos na pagsagot kasi nga parang evasive sila sa issues na ‘yon eh.  So meron pong procedure dyan, meron pang guidelines dyan, at sabi ko nga, meron na pong impeachment […] at hindi pwedeng (hind) sagutin ‘yang mga tanong na yan,” he said.

(As I’ve said before, in briefings and hearings, they failed to explain anything; there was no proper answer because they have been evasive regarding these issues.  So we have a procedure there, guidelines in place, and as I’ve said, there is an impeachment complaint already; they cannot continue to dodge these questions.)

Ortega admitted that the names of the CF beneficiaries — like Piattos, Kokoy Villamin, Xiaome Ocho, and others — may all have been codenames to mask the true identities of these individuals.  However, the lawmaker said OVP and DepEd could have followed regulations on use of codenames, and could have clarified who these were, but they did not do so.

According to Ortega, he raised the possibility of revealing the names through an executive session, where only key OVP and DepEd officials and committee members will speak in a closed-door meeting.  Both agencies, however, still did not avail of this avenue.

“‘Pag nasa ground ka, talagang alam naman ng tao na pwede ang gumamit ng codenames […] pero sabi ko nga ang dali lang ipaliwanag n’yan eh.  ‘Pag sabi, napaka-simple naman po, susundin lang ‘yong guidelines, may paraan po dyan sa paggamit ng confidential funds, meron po dapat sundin tungkol d’yan, no’ng hearing palang dapat napaliwanag na nila yan,” he said.

(When you’re on the ground, people know that you can use codenames […] but as I’ve said, that’s easy to explain.  It is simple: you can follow the guidelines, and there is a way how to use these confidential funds; these should have been during the hearings.)

“Actually nasabi ko yan eh (executive session) sa isang interview na kung humingi sila ng executive session (we would have granted it). Pero they had all the time, they had all the chances, sabi nga nila, pero wala, naging show, nagkaroon ng puro drama,” he added.

(Actually I mentioned before the topic of having an executive session, had they asked for it, we would have granted it.  But still, they had all the time, they had all the chances, but what happened was they turned it into a drama show.)

ARs are proof of payment or that funding for projects reached its intended beneficiaries — and for the case of OVP and DepEd, these are informants who provided confidential information to authorities.

But both agencies, including DepEd who used to be under Duterte, came under fire after hearings of the House committee on good government and public accountability.

Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop first noticed that one of the ARs was signed by Piattos — a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip.

Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by Villamin.  However, the signatures and handwriting used by the Villamin in the two documents differed.

READ: House probe: OVP, DepEd CFs received by same man, different signatures

On Sunday, Ortega released the most-recent batch of weird names in ARs — including multiple “Fionas” which refers to a character from fantasy film Shrek;  a “Magellan”, which refers to Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who landed in Leyte in 1521; and another individual with the surname “Ewan”, which is a Filipino slang for ‘I don’t know.’

READ: ‘Magellan,’ ‘Fiona’ found on list of VP Duterte secret fund recipients 

Previously, Ortega also released a set of names said to be from a grocery shopping list, while there were some names that sounded like a phone brand — Xiaome Ocho.

READ: Piattos’ kin, ‘Xiaome Ocho’ also got VP Sara Duterte’s funds – Ortega 

Earlier, Ortega also said that the use of these weird names to certify receipt of CF disbursements may be an indication that there is a template on how to use these secret allocations.