Two Army officials stated Tuesday that their units received no confidential or regular funds in 2023 from the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte for anti-insurgency and anti-terrorism programs for the youth, contrary to its claim.
They also told the Senate impeachment court that DepEd officials requested that the certifications they issued on these programs would highlight the activities’ success or the department’s participation, and not to justify its spending of ₱15.54 million in confidential funds as reward payments for its informants.
Colonels Manaros Boransing II and Magtanggol Panopio were the latest witnesses to testify for the House prosecution, which continued to present evidence that Duterte misused ₱500 million in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd covering 2022 to 2023 per Article 1 of the articles of impeachment.
DepEd officials submitted the certifications issued on Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 5, 2023, to the Commission on Audit (COA) in response to its audit observation memorandum that sought documentary evidence on the confidential funds the department spent for the first three quarters of 2023.
Boransing and Panopio repeated the testimonies they gave in October 2024 before the House committee which looked into Duterte’s multimillion-peso confidential funds in both the DepEd and the OVP.
Moreover, they said that they learned about DepEd’s use of their certifications for liquidating the confidential funds to the COA during the House hearing.
2 court issues
On Day 20 of the impeachment trial, two controversial issues were addressed by the impeachment court in relation to last week’s trial:
• Presiding officer Francis Escudero prohibited witnesses from using earpieces, cellphones, or similar devices that would transmit or receive communication while testifying in court.
This stemmed from reports that OVP chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio, a hostile witness of the prosecution last week, was wearing an earpiece during his testimony.
Escudero said the court determined that social media photos showing Ortonio wearing such an earpiece were “AI-generated.” Ortonio, he said, actually had an ear piercing in the front fold of his ear.
“The chair wants to remind, and take this opportunity, the parties that every witness must testify nevertheless solely from his or her own knowledge, free from coaching or influence from counsel or any other person,” he said before the trial began.
• Senator-judge and Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente Sotto III took the floor to put on record Republic Act No. 6085, which regulates the use of aliases, and which House private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia cited last Aug. 26 upon Senator-judge Robinhood Padilla’s query about the use of aliases by OVP and DepEd informants.
“[The use of aliases] is only allowed in the Philippines for pseudonyms, solely for literary, cinema, television, and other entertainment purposes. Therefore, if there is a person behind the alias, then it’s an alias. If there is no person behind the name, it’s a fictitious name, or a fake name,” Sotto said.
Padilla had tried to justify the use of aliases in DepEd’s acknowledgment receipts of supposed informants paid with confidential funds, saying even the country’s heroes resort to aliases.
DepEd use of certifications
In offering both Boransing and Panopio as witnesses, House private prosecutor Reynaldo Robles told the court that the Army officers were unaware that DepEd would use the certifications they issued for programs attended by it and other government agencies to justify the use of their confidential funds.
“The Vice President and her subordinates at DepEd misrepresented the purpose and evidentiary value of Colonel Boransing’s certification, using proof of independently conducted Army programs, to justify ₱15.54 million in alleged confidential-fund reward with which neither the Colonel nor the certified activities had any demonstrated connection,” Robles said before the officer took the witness stand.
Boransing, who at the time served as assistant chief of staff for civil-military operations (CMO) of the Army’s 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division in Zamboanga Peninsula, said he prepared the DepEd certification at the request of Education Undersecretary Nolasco Mempin.
He said the document he signed indicated that DepEd participated in the youth programs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023. It did “not cover the use of DepEd confidential funds” and does “not mention” fund support or fund release or any fund, he said.
Program funding
Boransing said the youth leadership summit (YLS) was a “long-time” PA/AFP (Philippine Army/Armed Forces of the Philippines) program that aims “to stop recruitment of the youth to violent and extremist groups.”
He said the interagency technical working group (TWG) selects the area for the implementation of these programs. TWG members include the AFP, Philippine National Police, DepEd, and other local stakeholders.
The colonel explained that the Army and various government agencies spent for the eight 2023 YLS and 53 information, education and communication (IEC) programs.
“For Army participants and coordination, it was from the Army; the budget of the Army. For the students and out-of-school youth participants, it was funded from the provincial, city, and municipal local government funds. For other participants from other agencies, or civilians, it came from their own funding,” Boransing said.
He described it as “kaniya-kaniyang bayad or KKB.”
Boransing said the Army proposed the budget for these programs one year before the national budget is processed.
Robles asked Boransing how much DepEd provided as confidential funds for the two programs, and he replied: “There was no funding released to the 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division from DepEd or of any source.”
When asked whether the OVP or the Vice President’s Security and Protection Group provided funding for this unit for the 2023 programs. Boransing said: “No funds whatsoever were downloaded to the first Tabak ID for 2023 for YLS and IEC campaigns by any government agencies.”
On the query of Senator-judge Bam Aquino, Boransing acknowledged that the Army unit would spend ₱30,000 to ₱60,000 per program. Local government units, on the other hand, provided meals and T-shirts used by the students/youths, he added.
But he said he did not know the amounts or budget of the other government agencies for the programs.
DepEd fund liquidation
When Aquino asked for his reaction upon learning that DepEd used his certification to liquidate its confidential funds to COA, Boransing declined to comment.
“As an active member of the AFP, I do not think I should react; the impeachment court is ongoing. As the presiding officer said, the COA decision is not yet final, and I think it’s not appropriate for an active AFP member to give his opinion on such a political issue,” he told the senator.
Unlike Boransing, Panopio expressed shock upon learning how DepEd used the certification he issued to say that the 1st Infantry (Kaugnay) Division conducted three YLS programs in 2023 in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Zambales.
“Our certification is only for the certification that we conducted…We did not certify anything about money or funds, Your Honor,” Panopio said.
Senator-judge Panfilo Lacson asked Panopio whether he and another colonel, Carlos Sangdaan, “copied” each other’s certifications to DepEd, given some similarities.
“There is a paragraph here, specifically the second paragraph, that looks like a template. Did you two talk to each other?” Lacson asked.
Panopio said these were common military terms and that they were merely “following the doctrine and format of our report because it was written in the YLS handbook.”
Duterte’s defense lawyers did not cross-examine Boransing and Panopio.—CS
