More questionable names have surfaced in the ongoing probe into the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) use of confidential funds, with lawmakers now raising concerns over recipients that sound more like grocery items than real people.
La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V revealed on Sunday a batch of names—dubbed “Team Grocery”—which include “Beverly Claire Pampano,” “Mico Harina,” “Sala Casim,” “Patty Ting,” and “Ralph Josh Bacon.” Their names amusingly resemble food items like fish, flour, pork cuts, patties, and bacon, respectively.
According to Ortega, these individuals have no existing birth, marriage, or death records from the Philippine Statistics Authority, adding weight to suspicions that the recipients may be fictitious.
“If these aren’t real people, where did the money actually go?” Ortega asked.
The list of eyebrow-raising names submitted by Vice President Sara Duterte’s office to the Commission on Audit continues to grow. In earlier weeks, names like “Mary Grace Piattos,” “Jay Kamote,” and “Miggy Mango” were also flagged.
Ortega warned that out of the 1,992 listed OVP fund beneficiaries, over 1,300 lacked birth records and more than 1,500 had no traceable death documents. Meanwhile, Rep. Joel Chua of Manila disclosed that the Department of Education’s own confidential fund list included 405 names without any birth records.
