House leaders: Time for Poa to shed light on DepEd's confidential fund spending

Lawyer Michael Poa cannot claim ignorance on how the Department of Education's confidential funds were spent during Vice President Sara Duterte's time as Education chief, House leaders said Monday.

Poa, a member of Duterte's defense team at her impeachment trial at the Senate, was an undersecretary at DepEd as well as the department's spokesperson at the time.

“He’s a central figure here,” House Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V of La Union said in an online press conference on Monday, ahead of Poa’s scheduled testimony as a hostile witness for the prosecution before the Senate impeachment court on September 1, Tuesday.

Poa told lawmakers during the 2024 House good government and public accountability panel inquiry that he asked then-DepEd Undersecretary Nolasco Mempin to issue military certifications to justify DepEd’s use of its confidential funds for a Youth Leadership Seminar.

Mempin, however, said in the same inquiry that while he and other members of his team indeed issued certifications to Poa, they did not know that these would be used for the liquidation of the DepEd’s confidential funds.

“Now that we are before an impeachment court, this is the proper forum for him [Poa] to shed light on this,” Ortega said.

“Ngayon nasa impeachment court tayo and I believe na ito po ’yung proper forum para po mabigyang-linaw ’yung mga tanong [I believe this is the proper forum to clarify the questionable issues].”

House good government and public accountability vice chairperson Benny Abante of Manila, for his part, said that Poa is an accountable official just like the Vice President.

“Atty. Poa has accountability here. He cannot wash his hands off the disposal of confidential funds,” he said.

Poa says he's ready

In a separate interview, Bicol SARO party-list Representative Terry Ridon, a member of the House prosecution panel, said it is up to the impeachment court whether or not to give weight to Poa's testimony.

"Hindi siya sinubpoena pero nasabihan na po siya na maisasalang po siya sa mga susunod pong mga araw," Ridon said in an interview this afternoon.

(He was not subpoenaed, but he was told that he would be called on to testify soon.)

"Ayaw natin pangunahan po yung magiging testimonya ni Mr. Poa sa darating pong mga araw. Yun pong pag-assign naman po ng bigat o kawalan ng bigat nito pong mga testigo po na ito, nakabatay po ito sa Senate Impeachment Court. So tingin ko ilalatag lang po ng prosekusyon yung tingin nila pong mga mahalagang mga testigo para patunayan po yung betrayal of public trust o na confidential funds misuse," he added.

(We don't want to get ahead of Poa's testimony. Whether to assign weight to testimonies is up to the Senate impeachment court. So in my view the prosecution has to put forward who it believes will be valuable witnesses to prove betrayal of trust or confidential funds misuse.)

Ridon believes the prosecution panel will be able to elicit new information from Poa apart from what he already gave at the house hearing.

"I'm quite certain meron pong magiging pagkakaiba kasi nakita naman na po natin [there will be differences because we have seen] there were the same witnesses in the House proceedings and there were the same witnesses in the Senate proceedings pero may mga nakuha din po naman tayong mga bagong impormasyon mula sa mga testigo po na ito [but we got new information from the new testimonies]," the Bicol SARO Party-list representative explained.

In a statement on his upcoming testimony, Poa said, "I welcome the opportunity to testify on the extent of my participation in the subject matter, and perhaps even shed some light on what really transpired during those CGGPA hearings conducted by the House of Representatives."

Lachica?

Ortega, who had endorsed one of the impeachment complaints, believes Poa's testimony has more weight than Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica's, who was identified by several witnesses as having received confidential funds.

"Mas nakikita ko pa nga yung weight ng pag-testify niya o pag-upo niya kaysa po weight ng pag-upo ni Colonel Lachica. Dahil sa tingin ko at the end of the day, mas marami pong impormasyon na alam si Atty. Poa kaysa po kay Lachica," he said.

(I believe there is more weight to Poa testifying than Lachica. Because I think at the end of the day, Attorney Poa has more information than Lachica.)

Ridon, for his part, said that the House prosecution panel has not yet decided whether or not to present Lachica as a witness.

"Wala pa pong pinal na desisyon kung isasalang po si Mr. Lachica. Pero katulad nga ho ng naririnig po ninyo, matindi ho yung debate kung isasalang o hindi. Lalo't higit ang pagtingin nga po ng mga miyembro po ng panel, tingin nila ay sapat-sapat na yun pong mga nailatag po noong nauna pong mga testigo," he said.

(There is no final decision yet whether to get Mr. Lachica on the stand or not. But like what you have been hearing, the debate is intense. But the panel also already believes that the testimonies already presented so far are already sufficient.)

The House prosecution panel is still presenting evidence on Article 1 of its impeachment case against the Vice President alleging misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds, including P112.5 million from DepEd. — BM, GMA News