Top military officials have expressed their disapproval of Vice President Sara Duterte’s use of their certification to liquidate P15 million in confidential funds of the Department of Education (DepEd), as the funds did not go through them.
Retired Maj. Gen. Adonis Bajao, Lt. Col. Carlos Sangdaan Jr., and Colonels Manaros Boransing and Magtangol Panopio testified during a hearing by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on Thursday regarding the irregularities in the utilization of the DepEd funds.
DepEd had requested certifications from the AFP related to the Youth Leadership Summits (YLS), a regular anti-insurgency program organized by the military in 2023.
The military officials said that the AFP, along with participating local governments, financed the program, but DepEd allegedly used the certifications to justify its spending of P15 million on confidential funds, listed as payments to informants.
Boransing stated that if he had known the certifications would be used for such purposes, he would not have issued them, while Panopio and Sangdaan echoed his sentiments, stressing that the AFP does not issue certifications for events or expenses unrelated to their activities.
Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro asked the officials whether they knew their certifications would be used to justify the P15 million payment by DepEd to informants. The officials unanimously denied this knowledge.
They clarified that their certifications were solely intended to confirm the AFP’s participation in the YLS and not to authorize any financial transactions connected to informants.