(Editorial)
THE testimonies of two military officers during Tuesday’s impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte highlighted the alleged disconnect between the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Youth Leadership Summits (YLS) and Information Education Campaigns (IEC) and the Department of Education’s (DepEd) use of nearly P16 million in confidential funds, which were given as rewards.
On day 20 of the impeachment trial Tuesday, the prosecution presented two witnesses from the AFP—Col. Manaros Boransing II and Col. Magtangol Panopio to testify on the certifications they issued to the DepEd to prove its participation in the AFP’s youth-related activities.
In presenting the witnesses, counsel for the prosecution Atty. Rey Robles noted that DepEd submitted the certifications issued by Boransing and Panopio as attachments to its liquidation reports to the Commission on Audit for the use of P112.5 million in confidential funds in 2023.
During his questioning of Boransing, Senator-Judge Bam Aquino asked about the cost entailed in the conduct of the YLS on the part of the Philippine Army, as well as its partners from the government side.
For the eight YLS conducted in 2023, Boransing said that the average cost on their part would range between P30,000 to P60,000 only.
Boransing explained that the cost on the part of the Army is for coordination or representation expenses.
He said the bulk of the expenses would be on the part of the local government units who have to spend on the meals, accommodations, uniforms and team-building activities of their participants.
For all eight YLS activities, Boransing said the total participants was around 500 individuals.
Aquino noted that for all eight YLS activities, the total cost for all the stakeholders would not likely exceed P500,000.
In its submission to the COA, the DepEd said P15.54 million of its confidential funds were spent on the YLS and IEC as part of its counter-insurgency program particularly to prevent the recruitment of teachers and students by terrorists and insurgents.
Pressed by Aquino to disclose how much DepEd actually spent for the YLS and IEC, Boransing said that he does not know.
“I really don’t know how much they spend. For coordination and then sometimes use of facility and they provide subject matter experts,” Boransing said.
Aquino asked Boransing if he was not at the very least surprised after hearing how much the DepEd declared to the COA for its expenses for those activities but the officer said he was preoccupied with other more pressing matters at the time.
“More or less alam natin yung gastos per event. Hindi yan aabot ng P1 million, hindi yan aabot ng P500,000 at ngayon yung information na 15M yung ginastos para sa purchase of information, for surveillance, to secure the event,” Aquino said.
In his testimony, Panopio admitted that he was surprised with how the DepEd used the certification he issued to liquidate its confidential funds.
“Medyo nagulat kami kasi yung aming certification was only for the certification that we conducted the Youth Leadership Summit. Hindi namin cinecertify anything about money or funds,” Panopio said.
Manila City Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. said there are many questions that remained unanswered during the testimonies of the two officers with regard to the use of confidential funds by the DepEd under Duterte.
Abante reiterated his call for the Vice President to attend her impeachment trial so that she could answer all of the questions and even dispel any wrong information that has been coming out during the proceedings.
“Ang ating Pangalawang Pangulo na dapat na siyang mag-appear dito. Sapagkat asar na asar na siya, eh mag-appear na siya para maipaliwanag sa taongbayan at sa prosecution at sa impeachment court na ito na hindi tama ang mga alegasyon ng prosecution team,” Abante said.
“Mayroon ba talagang misuse? Mayroon ba yang pandaraya? Mayroon bang fraud? Mayroon bang ginawa ang Vice President na hindi proper? It is up to the Vice President to answer that. Hindi pwedeng sagutin yan ng mga witness lamang. Siya lamang ang makakasagot niyan,” Abante said.
metrosundaily
