Week 9 of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial was curtailed once more due to Monday, August 31st being National Heroes Day. Testimony resumed on Tuesday with AFP Colonel Manaros Boransing II. He testified that, under Duterte, no Department of Education confidential funds were allowed for the Army's Youth Leadership Summit.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2296490/boransing-insists-no-duterte-offices-funds-in-army-youth-summits |
Not a single peso — whether regular allocations or confidential funds (CF) — from Vice President Sara Duterte’s offices was received or used for the youth leadership summits conducted by the Philippine Army (PA), Col. Manaros Boransing II said on Tuesday.
During the resumption of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Boransing was asked by prosecution lawyer Reynaldo Robles whether the Army’s Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) and the Information Education Communication (IEC) campaign — two anti-communist recruitment initiatives — were funded by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).
Robles asked this as the DepEd under Duterte cited the YLS and the IEC as activities that would justify the use of their CFs in 2023. In response, Boransing said they did not receive any CF from Duterte’s offices, and only PA funds were used, and local government unit (LGU) allocations for local partners.
“There was no funding released to the 1st Infantry Division from DepEd, sir, of any source,” Boransing said.
“How about funding, by way of confidential funds, provided by the offices identified with the respondent Vice President Sara Duterte, particularly the OVP, Office of the Vice President, or the Vice President Security and Protection Group or VPSPG, were there funding provided from those offices for your YLS and IEC activities in 2023?” Robles asked.
“For 2023 sir, there were no funds from other government agencies released to 1st Infantry Tabak Division, sir,” Boransing added.
The Army official also clarified that they did not receive even regular funds from OVP, DepEd, or VPSPG.
“I was asking you about confidential funds, now let me ask you about funds in general, confidential or otherwise, how much funding was provided or downloaded to your unit by the DepEd, for your conduct of the YLS and IEC activities for 2023?” Robles asked again.
“As I earlier said, no funds whatsoever or any amount was downloaded to the 1st Infantry Tabak Division for 2023 for the Youth Leadership Summit and Information Education Communication campaign, by any government agency sir,” Boransing answered.Robles’ inquiry was similar to the questions thrown at Boransing and other PA officials who attended an October 17, 2024, hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on good government and public accountability — which probed allegations of anomalous CF use within the Vice President’s offices.
During that hearing, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro — who eventually became chairperson of the committee on justice and lead public prosecutor — observed that DepEd under the Vice President made it seem that they used their CF for the YLS and IEC when it was the PA and LGUs that shouldered most of the expenses.
Luistro made this conclusion after asking Boransing which agencies’ funds were used for the YLS, as the DepEd claimed to have allocated P15 million of its CF.
When Boransing said that they used their own funds, Luistro asked retired former Education Undersecretary and Maj. Gen. Nolasco Mempin if it was true that DepEd did not allocate funds for the YLS since it is an AFP program.
Mempin replied in the affirmative.
However, Luistro was able to solicit a confirmation from the Commission on Audit (COA) that the acknowledgement receipts used by DepEd to show that the P15 million CF was spent for the YLS. However, DepEd labeled this disbursement as reward to informers.
Boransing and other PA officials told the House panel that they would have not given DepEd certifications for the YLS if they knew that DepEd would use these to justify confidential expenses for rewards to informants.
Boransing is the eighth witness presented by the prosecution for Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, or the allegations that the CFs for Duterte’s offices were misused.
In fact the Army received no funds from the Office of Vice President or the Department of Education for the Youth Leadership Summit.
A second military official, Col. Magtanggol Panopio, claimed he was surprised the DepEd used a certification he issued "in connection with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) liquidation of PHP15.54 million in confidential-fund rewards."
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1283093 |
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Col. Magtanggol Panopio said Tuesday that he was surprised to learn that a certification he issued merely to confirm the conduct of Philippine Army youth activities had been used in connection with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) liquidation of PHP15.54 million in confidential-fund rewards.
In his testimony before the Senate impeachment court, Panopio said he discovered the document’s use only when he appeared before a House inquiry into DepEd’s confidential intelligence funds in 2024, not when he issued the certification dated Dec. 5, 2023.
“We only learned of this when we appeared before Congress during the hearing on confidential intelligence funds of the Department of Education, Your Honor,” he said.
Presiding Officer Senator Francis Escudero placed the date of that House hearing on the record as Oct. 17, 2024. Panopio confirmed that it was there that he learned that his certification had been included among DepEd’s documents in responding to a Commission on Audit (COA) Audit Observation Memorandum.
“We were surprised because the certification is only for the certification that we conducted the Youth Leadership Summit. Hindi po namin sine-certify we were not certifying anything about money or funds, Your Honor,” he said.
He said the document was issued under instructions coursed through his military command and coordinated with former DepEd Undersecretary Nolasco Mempin.
Issuing such documents was not unusual in itself, he said, because military activities commonly involved other government agencies and local partners.
“It is part of my job as the assistant chief of staff for civil-military operations to issue certificates to our partners, especially on activities conducted by the division, Your Honor,” he said.
“That certification affirmed that the Youth Leadership Summits have been implemented in our area of operations during the year 2023, Your Honor,” he added.
Meanwhile, Panopio traced DepEd inputs to teachers, schools, and communities – not paid intelligence.
His certification stated that areas for the summits were identified through information obtained primarily from DepEd and that information exchange supported military operations focused on protecting schools.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian questioned what kind of information that language described and whether it was confidential or surveillance information.
Panopio explained that site selection began with ordinary interagency planning.
“When we conduct YLS, we are following different phases. During the planning phase, we are coordinating with different agencies like the LGUs, the schools and the community where we will conduct the YLS,” he said.
Asked who within DepEd supplied the information, Panopio did not identify a national official, confidential agent, or paid source, pointing principally to school personnel participating in local coordination.
“I assume that it came from the teachers on the ground as members of DepEd, who provided us the information on how and where to conduct the YLS, Your Honor,” he said.
He later identified teachers on the ground as the personnel he believed were being referred to in the certification.
Panopio did not claim that every input was public, initially describing the information, based on experience, as potentially mixed.
“So, I think we can say that the information may be somehow confidential or there is an open-source. But based on experience, it is mixed, Your Honor,” he said.
Gatchalian then required him to identify the actual subject matter. Panopio cited conditions known within communities, including disaster-response concerns, parenting, terrorism and communism, drug abuse, and family matters.
When asked whether those were confidential, he clarified, “It is open-source information because it is known in the community.”
Pressed for an example of genuinely confidential information from DepEd, Panopio did not cite an intelligence report, surveillance record, or informer’s disclosure.
“I can speculate only, or maybe the personal circumstances like teenage pregnancies or other personal information that became confidential because it is their personal life, Your Honor,” he said.
The prosecution says this means the Department of Education under Vice President Sara Duterte filled the military into signing off on the use of confidential funds.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1283075 |
Vice President Sara Z. Duterte as Education secretary in 2023, fooled the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), prosecution spokesperson Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said on Tuesday.
The Lanao del Sur lawmaker made the statement following the testimony of retired Army Col. Manaros Boransing II before the Senate impeachment court.
Boransing, who served as assistant chief of staff of the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division in 2023, testified about certifications issued for the AFP’s Youth Leadership Summit and other military-led activities.
The certification was among the documents submitted by the Department of Education (DepEd) during the liquidation of its PHP112.5 million confidential funds spent in the latter part of 2023.
Adiong said Boransing’s testimony raised concerns over how the AFP program was used in supporting DepEd’s liquidation documents.
“There is only one conclusion that we can draw from Boransing’s testimony: The AFP was scammed,” he said.
He alleged that DepEd used a long-running AFP youth program as justification for confidential fund expenses that were questioned by the Commission on Audit (COA).
“That is how desperate the Department of Education was during the tenure of Duterte that they were still willing to use a legitimate operation long conducted by the AFP as a front to justify their confidential funds, which was flagged by COA,” he said.
Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre echoed the concern, saying the testimony raised broader questions about the handling of confidential funds.
“It looked like the AFP and the people were scammed,” Acidre said.
Acidre said the testimony strengthened the prosecution’s argument that there were possible irregularities in the liquidation of confidential funds.
He said the use of the AFP certification as supporting documentation may have created a misleading impression that DepEd directly funded or conducted the activities.
Sara Duterte's lead defense attorney, Michael Poa, took the stand as a hostile witness. He served as DepEd Undersecretary when Duterte was DepEd Secretary. His testimony agreed with the two AFP officials. NO confidential funds were used for the AFP's Youth Leadership Summit.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1283148 |
Former Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Michael Wesley Poa on Wednesday confirmed that no DepEd confidential funds were given to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the Youth Leadership Summits (YLS) cited in military certifications submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA).
Poa made the admission as a hostile witness in the 21st day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Asked by private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. to confirm that no DepEd confidential funds were given to the AFP for the YLS, Poa replied: “Yes, sir. I confirm that.”
The testimony reinforced earlier statements from Army officers Col. Manaros Boransing II and Col. Magtangol Panopio that the YLS was a regular military activity and that their units did not receive DepEd confidential funds for the activities covered by their certifications.
Poa also recalled the AFP officers saying they did not know when they issued the certifications that would later be used in connection with DepEd’s confidential fund liquidation.
“I remember them saying that, sir,” Poa testified.
He further recalled that one or two of the military officers explained that such certifications were ordinarily issued to agencies participating in the YLS.
The prosecution then asked why the AFP certifications were used to support DepEd’s response to an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) concerning rewards supposedly paid to confidential informers.
Poa testified that his interpretation at the time was that information obtained by DepEd through the payment of rewards supposedly helped the military identify areas for its activities.
He, however, repeatedly acknowledged that he had no personal knowledge that this was actually what happened.
“That is just my interpretation of the certification,” Poa explained. “Whether or not that is indeed the case, I really do not have personal knowledge of it.”
Poa also confirmed that when previously asked where the supposed link between the confidential fund information and the AFP activities came from, he had described it as his “theory.”
“Yes, sir,” Poa testified.
In his April 17, 2024 response to COA, Poa said financial rewards were given to informers for leads or information that supposedly allowed DepEd to formulate targeted programs and interventions against recruitment, violent extremism and other criminal activities.
The response cited four AFP certifications as evidence of the “success of various programs, projects, and activities directly resulting from the information provided by informers.”
But under questioning, Poa acknowledged that he did not personally know what specific information had been provided by the informers or whether that information actually led to the AFP activities cited in the certifications.
He also confirmed that he had no personal knowledge of how DepEd’s confidential funds were operationally used and became involved only after receiving the COA audit observation and preparing the agency’s response.
“Any involvement that you had with respect to confidential funds, it started when you received the AOM?” Tolosa asked.
“When I received the AOM, yes, sir,” Poa replied.
Poa said he consulted DepEd special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda, who referred him to then-Undersecretary Nolasco Mempin for documents showing the supposed success of activities linked to the confidential fund expenditures.
Poa likewise confirmed that Mempin himself had no personal knowledge of how the confidential funds were used.
Mempin eventually provided the AFP certifications that Poa attached to DepEd’s response to COA.
Duterte served as education secretary when DepEd spent PHP112.5 million in confidential funds in 2023.
The PHP112.5 million forms part of the first Article of Impeachment accusing her of alleged misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds
But he also testified that he has no personal knowledge of how the confidential funds were spent. So, what is he doing on the stand if he is only testifying from hearsay? How is it that Sara's number one had direct access to her but was out of the loop on how the confidential funds were being spent?
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1283162 |
Former Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Michael Wesley Poa testified Wednesday that he reported directly to then-Education Secretary Sara Duterte, received her instructions on department operations, and sought her guidance before media interviews despite allegedly having no firsthand knowledge of how the agency’s confidential funds were operationally used.
Poa took the witness stand as a hostile prosecution witness on Day 21 of Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. questioned him about the authority he exercised and his working relationship with Duterte while serving as DepEd spokesperson, undersecretary, chief of staff, officer-in-charge for finance, and head of the procuring entity.
Defense counsel Shiela Sison earlier acknowledged Poa’s standing within the department.
“I can stipulate, Your Honor, that he is trusted and that he is good at what he does,” Sison told the impeachment court.
Poa began as DepEd spokesperson in July 2022. By April 2023, he was undersecretary and chief of staff. He subsequently served briefly as officer-in-charge of the finance office and later as head of the procuring entity.
Poa explained that although President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. formally appointed him undersecretary, his appointment came through Duterte.
“Sir, it was the President who appointed me as Undersecretary, as you know. But of course, upon the recommendation of the Secretary, then it was the Vice President,” Poa said.
When Tolosa asked whether he had a direct reporting relationship with Duterte, Poa answered: “Yes, I do.”
Poa likewise confirmed that his position gave him direct access to Duterte without having to pass through other department officials.
He also testified that as chief of staff, he gave Duterte updates and received her instructions on matters affecting DepEd’s operations.
The relationship extended to Poa’s work as spokesperson.
Poa described Duterte’s input as “guidance,” rather than instructions; but he confirmed a statement he made at a previous congressional hearing, in which he described consulting her before interviews.
“When there’s news, and I need to get to an interview, honestly, I have to message the Vice President at that time to find out every time what she wants me to say during the interview,” the earlier statement read.
Poa confirmed in court that those were his words.
The prosecution contrasted Poa’s access, authority and institutional role with his repeated position that he had no operational knowledge of the confidential funds.
“I don’t have personal knowledge in the operations of DepEd. So, I’m answering based on my understanding, based on what I’ve read when I was trying to study,” Poa said while discussing his interpretation of confidential-fund requirements.
He likewise confirmed that his involvement in the confidential-fund issue began only after DepEd received an Audit Observation Memorandum from the Commission on Audit.
Poa had not signed the original liquidation reports submitted for the funds, and identified former special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda, Duterte as head of agency, and an accountant as among those who signed the records.
For the prosecution, Poa’s testimony highlights how a senior official entrusted with speaking for Duterte and helping manage DepEd remained outside the operational handling of the money until state auditors demanded further proof.
Duterte led DepEd when the agency received and used PHP112.5 million in confidential funds in 2023 and signed the corresponding liquidation reports as the agency’s head, according to Poa’s testimony.
The prosecution said Duterte must now explain who exercised control, what safeguards she imposed, and how the public money was actually used.
Despite knowing nothing and likely being purposefully kept out of the loop, Poa was appointed by Sara to answer the COA's audit concerning the confidential funds. Why? Was he picked as a fall guy because he had no knowledge of the inner workings of Duterte's financial schemes?
Why did Vice President Sara Duterte pick Michael Poa to answer questions from the Commission on Audit (COA) about P112.5 million in Department of Education (DepEd) confidential funds if he had no firsthand knowledge of the operations the money was supposedly spent on?
That was one of the points that House private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. tried to clarify as he questioned Poa, former DepEd spokesperson when Duterte still headed the department, who testified on Wednesday as a hostile witness on the 21st day of the vice president’s impeachment trial.
In a statement, the prosecution said it included that issue in a 13-point offer for Poa’s testimony.
Despite being one of the defense lawyers and their legal spokesperson, Poa was presented as a witness, the statement said, for being Duterte’s former DepEd spokesperson, chief of staff, officer-in-charge of finance, and head of the procuring entity. Poa was also the former spokesperson of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
Following is an overview of the 13-point offer of the prosecution, as described in its statement:
Point 1
This described Poa as “one of the Vice President’s most trusted men,” a relationship the prosecution considers central to his assignment.
Points 2 to 4These focused on Poa’s knowledge. Tolosa offered to prove that Poa had “no prior participation in the operational use of the confidential funds before COA issued its Audit Observation Memoranda (AOM), yet Duterte directed him to prepare the responses.”
According to the prosecution, the officials Poa consulted could not supply firsthand information either. These were former special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda and then-Undersecretary Nolasco Mempin.
“The documents eventually gathered consisted principally of Armed Forces certifications,” the statement said, referring to the certifications issued by the military on DepEd’s participation in the 2023 Youth Leadership Summits.
That is a question only Sara Duterte can answer and as of now she has no plans to testify let alone attend her own impeachment trial.
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