Wacky spending by OVP, DepEd

Remember Janet Lim Napoles' P10-billion pork barrel scam? Resourcefulness enabled her to plunder for 20 senators and 100 congressmen in 2000-2013.

- JARIUS BONDOC

Her scheme involved rosters of "beneficiaries" of lawmakers' "livelihood projects."

Coming up with names was never a problem. She copied from newspapers the passers of year-round board exams for teachers, engineers, nurses, doctors and lawyers. Nobody noticed for 13 long years.

Not so with Office of the Vice President and Department of Education.

Hundred-million-peso confidential spending by OVP and DepEd under Sara Duterte in 2022-2023 are wacky.

Nine examples from six hearings of the House committee on good government and public accountability:

(1) "Kokoy Villamin" supposedly received confidential cash from OVP on Sept. 17, 2023. Also from DepEd, no date, but with generic address "Ozamiz."

Signatures and penmanship clearly differ, Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed.

Yet OVP and DepEd irregularly accepted Acknowledgement Receipts (ARs) from an obvious nickname "Kokoy."

(2) Several OVP ARs came from "Mary Grace Piattos." One was for P70,000 reward in medicines on Dec. 30, 2022.

There's an old low-key Piatos clan in Duterte's Davao City. But none first named Mary Grace.

"Obviously concocted," Rep. Romeo Acop noted. "Mary Grace" is a nationwide cafe-bakery chain of 137 outlets. "Piattos" is a famous potato chips brand.

(3) Other OVP ARs were for surnames "Nova," "Oishi," "Tempura." Or mere initials "AAS" and "JOV."

(4) Committee chair Rep. Joel Chua said 158 OVP ARs "were issued on dates when there were no confidential funds. All were dated December 2023, but for disbursements in December 2022."

(5) Ten OVP ARs from different persons in different provinces and on different dates had the same distinguishing ink.