Lawmakers said individuals allegedly linked to the receipt of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds — including the controversial name “Mary Grace Piattos” — should be publicly identified once impeachment hearings begin, as reported by RH Milky Rigonan.

Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the impeachment proceedings would be the proper venue to determine whether Mary Grace Piattos and others were real individuals, amid allegations that the names were aliases used in the disbursement of confidential funds.

Mary Grace Piattos is among several names, including ‘Kokoy Villamin’, ‘Jay Kamote’, ‘Miggy Mango’ and ‘Xiaome Ocho’ — collectively dubbed the “Budol Gang” by the Young Guns — that surfaced in connection with the questioned spending of confidential funds, one of the grounds cited in the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil has already transmitted copies of the impeachment complaints to the office of Speaker Faustino Dy III, who has 10 days under House rules to include the matter in the plenary’s order of business before referral to the House Justice Committee.

At present, two impeachment complaints have been filed against Vice President Duterte — one by Reps. France Castro and Neri Colmenares, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, and another by civil society leaders led by Kiko Aquino Dee of Tindig Pilipinas, endorsed by Reps. Leila de Lima and Perci Cendaña.