AT A GLANCE
- Vice President Sara Duterte's camp claims that recipients of her office's confidential funds used aliases, raising questions about potential violations of the anti-alias law.
- Prosecutors argue that the use of aliases in acknowledgment receipts may constitute a violation of the law, which carries penalties including jail time and fines.
For the first time, the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte made the claim that the recipients of her offices’ confidential funds used aliases.
It’s a plausible explanation that could justify the oddity of the names of the signatories on the acknowledgment receipts — from surnames of senators to a mix of brand names, such as the infamous Mary Grace Piattos.
This, however, raises another question: did Sara Duterte, as head of agency for the Office of the Vice President and previously the Department of Education, violate the anti-alias law?
The prosecution believes so.
“This does not fall under any of the exemptions to the Anti-Alias Law. This could be yet another case or violation against them,” public prosecutor Joel Chua said.
What does the law actually say? The original law dates back to 1936, when the National Assembly of the Philippines passed Commonwealth Act No. 142. It was extensively amended by Republic Act 6085 in 1969.
The amended law prohibits a person from using any name other than the one he was registered with at birth, or the one he was baptized with, or the substitute name approved by a competent court.
The only exceptions are pseudonyms “solely for literary, cinema, television, radio or other entertainment purposes and in athletic events.”
If persons wants to use an alias, they need to obtain judicial authority to do so. They also cannot have more than one alias.
“The judicial authority for the use of alias the Christian name and the alien immigrant’s name shall be recorded in the proper local civil registry, and no person shall use any name or names other, than his original or real name unless the same is or are duly recorded in the proper local civil registry,” the law reads.
RA 6085 also explicitly states that no person — even those who use a pseudonym or those who obtained judicial authority to use an alias — shall execute any public or private document without affixing his or her actual name.
Violation of the law entails jail time of up to five years and a fine of P5,000 up to P10,000.
“It is clear that the Vice President, when she took her oath of office, swore under the Constitution that she would uphold all of our laws. This is again a culpable violation of the Constitution,” Chua said.
“Regarding its application to the acknowledgment receipts of confidential funds, it’s something that the impeachment court should answer,” prosecutor Lordan Suan also added in a separate interview with Rappler.
One Supreme Court ruling in 1996 may be relevant to this issue. Ursua vs Court of Appeals says that the use of a fictitious name in a single instance without indication that the person intends to be known by that name does not fall within the prohibition contained in C.A. No. 142 as amended.
Defense lawyer Justine Gular, who publicly offered this fresh theory of their case for the first time, said they will thresh out their arguments when they present their evidence.
Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia, however, objected to what she called an “eleventh hour” admission of their position, since the angle on aliases was not revealed during the pre-trial. – Rappler.com
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Facts Only
Vice President Sara Duterte's legal team claims recipients of confidential funds used aliases.
Acknowledgment receipts include names resembling senators' surnames and brand names, such as Mary Grace Piattos.
Prosecutors Joel Chua and Lordan Suan argue this may violate the Anti-Alias Law.
Commonwealth Act No. 142 (1936), amended by Republic Act 6085 (1969), prohibits using names other than birth, baptismal, or court-approved names.
Legal exceptions for pseudonyms are limited to literary, cinema, television, radio, entertainment, or athletic purposes.
Judicial authority is required to legally use an alias, which must be recorded in the local civil registry.
RA 6085 requires the use of actual names on all public or private documents.
Violations carry penalties of up to five years in prison and fines between P5,000 and P10,000.
The 1996 Supreme Court ruling Ursua vs Court of Appeals states a single instance of using a fictitious name without intent to be known by that name is not a violation.
Defense lawyer Justine Gular introduced the alias theory; private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia objected to the timing of the admission.
Executive Summary
Vice President Sara Duterte's camp has introduced a new defense regarding the use of confidential funds, claiming that the unusual names appearing on acknowledgment receipts—some of which resemble brand names—were aliases used by the recipients. This claim shifts the focus toward the legality of the signatures themselves, though it opens a new legal vulnerability regarding the Anti-Alias Law (RA 6085), which generally prohibits the use of names other than those registered at birth or approved by a court.
Public prosecutors contend that this practice constitutes a violation of the law and the Vice President's oath of office, suggesting the matter should be addressed by an impeachment court. Conversely, the defense intends to present evidence supporting their theory, while a 1996 Supreme Court precedent suggests that isolated use of a fictitious name may not be criminal. The situation remains unresolved, with the prosecution criticizing the "eleventh hour" introduction of this narrative during the legal proceedings.
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative is that the Office of the Vice President operated under a system where recipients utilized aliases for security or administrative reasons, and that the mere appearance of these names on receipts does not equate to a systemic intent to deceive or a criminal violation of the Anti-Alias Law.
The situation reveals a conflict between administrative justification and statutory rigidity. The transition from defending the *amount* of funds spent to defending the *identity* of the recipients suggests a tactical shift in the legal strategy. By admitting the names are aliases, the defense attempts to explain away the "oddity" of the receipts, but in doing so, they potentially trade one legal problem (fund mismanagement) for another (statutory violation of RA 6085).
This narrative is driven by a paradigm of institutional accountability versus executive privilege. The unstated assumption is that the use of aliases in government disbursements is inherently suspicious, while the defense assumes that such a practice is a justifiable quirk of confidential fund management.
This creates a tension regarding transparency: if government funds are disbursed to "aliases," the mechanism for public oversight is effectively neutralized. The second-order consequence is a potential precedent where "confidentiality" is used to bypass basic legal requirements for identity verification in public documents.
Bridge Questions:
1. What specific security or operational necessity would justify the use of brand-name aliases for government fund recipients?
2. How does the Ursua vs Court of Appeals precedent apply when the "single instance" involves multiple receipts for public funds?
3. What evidence would be required to prove that the Vice President personally authorized or mandated the use of these aliases?
Counterstrike Scan: A coordinated influence campaign would use this to frame the Vice President as either a victim of bureaucratic anomalies or a lawbreaker utilizing "fake names" to hide corruption. The current content does not match this pattern; it maintains a professional, legalistic tone focusing on specific statutes and court precedents.
Patterns detected: none
Sentinel — Human
The text reads like a journalistic report synthesizing claims and legal context surrounding an alleged violation, demonstrating the complex interplay of conflicting arguments typical of news reporting.