Sara questions 'chain of evidence' as House uncovers more food names in fund receipts

March 19, 2025 | 7:40pm

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has casted doubt on the "chain of evidence" that led lawmakers to discover even more fictitious names in the acknowledgment receipts for her office's use of confidential and intelligence funds.

In an interview at The Hague on Wednesday, March 19, Duterte again did not confirm if the names used in the receipts were real people. Instead, she said she could not answer the question due to her uncertainty over the basis of the allegations.

"Ah 'yung sa impeachment ba? Ito 'yung walang kamatayang confidential funds na atake nila (Is it the impeachment? The never ending attack on confidential funds)," Duterte told reporters. 

"Hindi ko masagot 'yan dahil as we speak hindi namin alam how they handled the chain of evidence. Hindi natin alam kung 'yan talaga ang sinubmit ng Office of the Vice President at this point," the vice president added.

(I can't answer that because, as we speak, we don't know how they handled the chain of evidence. We don't know if that is really what the Office of the Vice President submitted at this point.)

Duterte was asked to address allegations by a House leader that the lower chamber had uncovered even more fake names allegedly used to justify the OVP's secret funds.

Specifically, House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega (La Union, 1st District) said in a statement over the weekend that the names "Jay Kamote" and "Miggy Mango" were seen in the OVP's acknowledgment receipts for its use of confidential and intelligence funds.

The House leader said these names reinforce allegations of "ghost expenses" or fraudulent disbursements of confidential funds under the vice president's watch.

Ortega also flagged the presence of five other recipients who all had "Dodong" as their first name: Dodong Alcala, Dodong Bina, Dodong Bunal, Dodong Darong and Dodong S. Barok.

Duterte has previously sidestepped questions on the suspicious names allegedly found in her office's receipts. In December 2024, during a freewheeling press conference with reporters, the vice president refused to confirm whether "Chippy McDonald," "Fernando Tempura" and "Carlos Oishi," were real people. Lawmakers have similarly flagged these names in the OVP's receipts.

In December 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority said at least 405 of 677 names in the Department of Education's (DepEd) confidential fund receipts and 1,322 of 1,992 names from the OVP had no birth certificates. Only a few hundred were "likely matches" to existing records. 

The House good government committee uncovered these findings while investigating the alleged misuse of a combined total of P612.5 million in confidential funds by the OVP and DepEd under Duterte's leadership in 2022 and 2023.  — with reports by Dominique Flores