Former Department of Education (DepEd) undersecretary and chief of staff Michael Poa confirmed Wednesday that the agency, then headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, did not give even a cent of its confidential funds to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the Youth Leadership Summits in 2023. 

His testimony corroborated that of Col. Manaros Boransing II and Col. Magtanggol Panopio, who took the witness stand on Tuesday, and both said they were unaware that the DepEd used the certification they issued for the YLS to justify P15.54 million in DepEd’s confidential expenses. 

The military certificates were submitted by DepEd to the Commission on Audit in 2024 as proof of the liquidation of confidential funds. 

“I’m sure you agree that the Department of Education didn’t contribute even a single peso [of confidential funds] to the AFP for the conduct of these Youth Leadership Summits, right?” private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr., who also serves as one of the team’s spokespersons, asked Poa.

Poa replied, “Yes, sir. I confirmed that.” 

Poa is a member of the VP's defense team and was declared a hostile witness. His testimony centered on the DepEd’s liquidation of P112.5 million in confidential funds, of which P75 million was initially flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for insufficient documentation.

State auditors questioned the spending in an audit observation memorandum (AOM) dated 1 February 2024 for lacking documentary evidence demonstrating the success of information-gathering or surveillance activities, a clear violation of Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2015-0, which governs the use of confidential and intelligence funds. 

The COA typically issues an AOM to state agencies to address financial or operational deficiencies found during an audit, such as accounting errors, weaknesses, or missing papers, and to request explanations or missing documents from the flagged department within a specified period. 

It was Poa who drafted DepEd’s response to the audit findings on 17 April 2024. He included the military certificates to justify the liquidation of the confidential funds, although he admitted he was not confident the documents would suffice.

During a House inquiry in 2024, Poa told lawmakers that the certificates were used on the premise that military activities, specifically the YLS, were conducted in particular areas based on intelligence information provided by the DepEd. 

Poa affirmed this when Tolosa brought it up, but he pointed out that it was based solely on his interpretation and that he had no direct knowledge of how the confidential funds were used on the ground or whether the activities were specifically triggered by DepEd intelligence.

The P15.54 million represents the DepEd’s payment of rewards to informants in the first and second quarters of 2023. The amount was utilized in two tranches—the first covers 20 February to 30 March (P7.51 million), while the second tranche covers 20 April to 29 June (P8.03 million) 

Who requested certificates from AFP?

Duterte stands trial for corruption allegations, among others. The prosecution accused her of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds, which were allocated between her two offices—the OVP (P500 million) and DepEd (P112.5 million)—from December 2022 to mid-2023. 

She concurrently headed the DepEd from June 2022 to June 2024.

The prosecution alleged that the Duterte-led DepEd submitted AFP certifications to the COA as proof that the agency used P15.54 million for informant rewards, even though the certifications were issued and signed by military officers. 

Boransing told the impeachment court that the Philippine Army's 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division did not receive any funds or confidential allocations from the DepEd for the YSL, although he noted that the agency was among the stakeholders of the AFP-led program.

The YLS is a multi-stakeholder program with DepEd as a partner and the AFP as the lead agency. It was designed to “stop the recruitment of youth, either students in schools or out-of-school youth, to groups who are violent extremists.” 

Both Boransing and Panopio said they were not informed that the certificates would be used by the DepEd to justify its use of confidential funds, adding that the documents were strictly to confirm the attendance and participation of DepEd and other stakeholders in the program. They also noted that no intelligence gathering was conducted during the summits.

Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo pressed Poa on whether the idea of using AFP certifications was Duterte's.

Poa, however, answered that Duterte never asked him to get the certifications, nor did he ask him to approve them.  

After the COA flagged the spending, Poa said he asked for accomplishment reports from former DepEd undersecretary Nolasco Mempin, who, in turn, asked for certifications from members of the AFP.

It was later revealed that the certificates were obtained from Boransing, Panopio, and retired Col. Adonis Bahaw, all of whom were eother former colleagues and classmates of Mempin at the Philippine Military Academy. 

“When they provided these documents, they did not know that they will be used to justify the DepEd’s use of confidential funds?” Tolosa asked. Poa replied, “I remember them saying that, sir.”

Poa also confirmed that none of the certificates identified the rewarded informants, nor did they specify the particular information supposedly purchased with the confidential funds. 

Poa insisted that he had no personal knowledge of DepEd's operations, but insisted that "Not all the information you bought will obviously lead to success."

Mempin also did not have personal knowledge of how the confidential funds were used on the ground, according to Poa.