House Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Paolo Ortega V and House Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong hold a press conference on March 20, 2025. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The number of supposedly questionable recipients of confidential funds from Vice President Sara Duterte's office is "growing" with the discovery of additional names, a member of the House majority said.

House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V from La Union revealed a new set of names in a statement on Sunday.

"Sa patuloy na pagsusuri ng Kongreso sa listahan ng mga nakatanggap ng confidential funds sa DepEd, may bagong grupo na naman—ang tinatawag nating ‘Team Amoy Asim," he said. 

(As the House continues its scrutiny of the list of recipients of Department of Education confidential funds, we found a news group — we call them 'Team Amoy Asim'.)

Members of the House have cited irregular names of allegedly non-existent people to cast doubt on how Duterte's offices disbursed confidential funds.

Duterte has denied allegations of impropriety in the fund releases, including some that seem to have been signed in different provinces by the same person on the same day.

The vice president, whom the House impeached in February, has attributed her legal troubles to partisan politics.

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'LIU, AMUY AND DE ASIM'

Ortega on Sunday bared the names of "Amoy Liu," "Fernan Amuy," and "Joug De Asim."

The lawmaker claimed these names were submitted by the OVP and Department of Education to the Commission on Audit. 

Ortega said Liu, Amuy, and De Asim have no birth, marriage, or death records in the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) database.

Duterte has declined comment on recent name releases, saying she does not know if the documents House members are citing are the same ones her offices submitted to government auditors.

Ortega believes the recent names raise serious questions about the legitimacy of the disbursements.

"Una, may chichirya, may cellphone, at may prutas. Sumunod ang ‘Dodong Gang.’ Ngayon naman, nandito na ang ‘Team Amoy Asim.’ Kung sa listahan pa lang ay maasim na ang dating ng pekeng mga pangalan, paano pa kaya sa mga transaksyon mismo?"  Ortega questioned.

(First, there were names of snacks, of cellphones, of fruits. And then there was the 'Dodong Gang'. Now, we have 'Team Amoy Asim'. If something smells off just from this list, how much more the transactions themselves?)

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'NO GOVERNMENT RECORDS'

Out of the 1,992 supposed receipients of OVP confidential funds, Ortega claimed that 1,322 had no birth records, 1,456 had no marriage records and 1,593 had no death records.

House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chairperson Joel Chua of Manila earlier said that 405 out of the 677 names reportedly listed as beneficiaries of DepEd’s confidential funds have no birth records.

“Anong klaseng payroll ito? Lahat ng pangalan ay parang gawa-gawa lang. Imposible ang ganito kung sumusunod sa tamang proseso,” Ortega stressed.

(What kind of payroll is this? All the names seem to have been made up. This would be impossible if they followed the correct process)

Duterte's supporters have countered that the names could be aliases because of the confidential nature of the fund transfers.

Last week, Ortega flagged the names "Jay Kamote" and "Miggy Mango" on alleged confidential fund receipts from the Office of the Vice President.

He also mentioned there were at least five individuals named "Dodong" listed as fund recipients from Duterte's office.

In response, the vice president said she cannot answer questions on the issue because she does not know how the lawmakers "handled the chain of evidence."

Ahead of the impending impeachment trial, Ortega reiterated his call for Duterte to quit giving excuses and face the allegations.

But those will only happen at the impeachment trial, which is expected to formally start in end-July.

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