Former Department of Education (DepEd) chief of staff Atty. Michael Poa testified Wednesday that the agency under Vice President Sara Duterte did not provide the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) any funding for Youth Leadership Summits (YLS), despite citing the programs in its liquidation report to the Commission on Audit (COA) covering P112.5 million in confidential fund expenditures.
Taking the stand as a hostile witness on Day 21 of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Poa affirmed that the DepEd “did not give even a single peso” to the AFP for the YLS. He was confronted with transcripts from a House committee hearing where he previously admitted that the DepEd used AFP activities to justify its confidential fund spending before the COA.
His testimony supported statements from AFP officers Col. Manaros Boransing and Col. Magtanggol Panopio, who told the Impeachment Court that the military used its own budget for YLS and only issued certifications to DepEd without knowing these would be used to validate confidential fund expenditures.
Poa further admitted he had no personal knowledge of how the confidential funds were spent, echoing his earlier remarks before the House panel.
The Impeachment Court is scrutinizing DepEd’s use of P125 million in confidential funds under Duterte, alongside the Office of the Vice President’s P500 million confidential fund spending, both central to charges under Article I of the Articles of Impeachment. ||
