Prosecution: Poa should explain why military certifications were used for DepEd confi funds

The House prosecution panel said Friday defense counsel Michael Poa has a lot to explain before the Senate impeachment court on how the P112.5 million in confidential funds of the Department of Education (DepEd) was used during the tenure of Vice President Sara Duterte as Education chief.

House prosecution panel adviser and former Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers and House Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V of La Union cited that Poa, as then-undersecretary and spokesperson of the DepEd, already admitted before a 2024 House good government and public accountability panel that he asked certifications from military officials to justify the DepEd's confidential fund spending without informing the military officials on the purpose of such signatures.

Poa is the next witness that the prosecution will field for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

"What we heard from him during the Good Government [panel], we haven't heard the whole story from Atty. Michael Poa. As Assistant Chief of Staff of DepEd that time, he is in charge of a lot of documents, evaluating them, and he could be signing them. That must be made clear before the Senator-Judges," Barbers said in an online press conference.

"Secondly, was DepEd able to use its confidential fund properly, given that it is very rare for the DepEd to be given such a fund? Do these have a legal or illegal basis? Because if these are illegal, a lawyer such as himself should understand that these should not be allowed. You could have given a sound advice to those implementing the projects. There are many questions that need to be answered," Barbers added in a mix of English and Filipino.

Ortega, for his part, said Poa's resignation as a DepEd official in July 2024 amid the controversy on DepEd's confidential fund spending is something that should be addressed before the impeachment court.

"During the House hearings, the questions have been somehow limited since he just resigned from DepEd before he came in as resource person. The impeachment court can cover more topics that he can answer," Ortega said.

Barbers and Ortega then noted that the military certifications issued by the military officials Colonel Manaros Boransing II and Colonel Magtangol Panopio to justify DepEd's confidential fund spending, which the military officials were unaware of, carry a great weight because aside from these being public funds, it is not the job of the military to liquidate these confidential fund disbursements of DepEd.

"This organization should not interfere in politics. They should remain apolitical, they should remain neutral, and they should always be loyal to the Constitution and loyal to our Philippine flag, so it will be good for us to hear from them," Barbers said.

"Liquidating these funds is not their job. That is such a huge amount of public funds which they do not have authority to dip hands on," Barbers added. — VDV, GMA News