Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Speaker's office, Facebook)

An alleged questionable use of confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) linked to Vice President Sara Duterte--this time during her tenure as Department of Education (DepEd) secretary--came to light on Thursday, Oct. 17. 

This, after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua discovered that the DepEd had falsely claimed to Commission on Audit (COA) that it used P15 million of its CIFs in connection with eight youth leadership summits (YLS). 

The congressmen who took part in the inquiry Thursday, Oct. 17 were left scratching their heads after they learned from resource persons that it was actually the Philippine Army (PA) and local government units (LGUs) that shouldered most of the expenses for these summits. 

House "Young Guns" bloc member Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro blew the cover off this switcheroo when she questioned rather extensively the authenticity of the certifications submitted by DepEd, which supposedly justified the disbursement of P15 million in CIFs for informers. 

The COA told the Chua panel that DepEd used these certifications--issued by military officers who actually conductes the YLS, as supporting documents for the payout. 

However, when retired military officers Maj. Gen. Adonis Bajao, Lt. Col. Carlos Sangdaan Jr., and Colonels Manaros Boransing and Magtangol Panopio were called to testify, they denied being informed that the certifications they issued in connection with the YLS in 2023 were going to be used to justify the alleged payments to informers. 

The four officers also denied that any DepEd funds were used in the summits, a statement confirmed by retired Gen. Nolasco Mempin, a DepEd undersecretary at the time. 

Vice President Duterte was the education chief from June 30, 2022 to July 19, 2024. 

Where's the P15 million? 

This begs the question of where exactly were the P15 million spent on--something that wasn't answered during the hearing. 

“I was asked by the Office of the Secretary to ask for the certification coming from these units, but it is clear to them or even to me that no funds are involved, meaning no funds are released to these units. What the Office of the Secretary just wanted to know is the product or the result of the collaboration of various stakeholders including DepEd, with regards to our youth, so it is clear that DepEd has not released any single centavo to the conduct of YLS,” Mempin told Luistro. 

“If you are saying General Mempin that no DepEd funds were used for the [YLS], where did you spend the P15 million?” asked the lady solon. 

“Mr. Chair, I was not aware of it because the task given to me is just to coordinate because to be candid about it, the commanders of Col. Boransing, Col. Panopio, and Lt. Col. Sangdaan are my former colleagues or classmates in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA),” noted Mempin. 

When asked by Luistro if his statement implied that DepEd did not incur any expenses related to the military’s involvement, as no funds were transferred from DepEd to the military, Mempin gave an affirmative response. 

For his part, Boransing clarified that the YLS were funded by the PA and LGUs. He echoed Mempin's statement that he was unaware the certifications would be used to justify payments to informers, as DepEd had claimed to COA. 

“For our participants, we used the [PA] fund, and the LGUs used their funds for the youth. 

“We all closely monitor the program of the [YLS] to ensure that it is multi-stakeholder and it fits the objectives of the program. So we have personal knowledge, we can go around in each barangay, but they have — since they use the budget from the [PA], we have after-activity reports, fund utilization reports, pictures and documentations,” according to Boransing. 

“For the eight YLS, that were conducted, you used the fund of the Philippine Army,” Luistro asked for confirmation, to which Boransing answered, "Yes Mr. Chair." 

These are public funds 

COA representative, lawyer Gloria Camora confirmed to the committee that the P15 million was part of a larger P75 million flagged in a notice of disallowance, with COA requesting further documentation to substantiate the expenditure. 

The conflicting accounts have amplified scrutiny over the use of DepEd’s CIFs, with lawmakers calling for a deeper investigation into how these public funds were managed under Vice President Duterte’s leadership. 

A visibly disturbed Luistro then manifested to the panel: “Let us all be reminded na ito pong confidential fund na ito pera ng taumbayan (these confidential funds are public funds), all of us are accountable to the Filipino citizens. Public office is a public trust. We should be accountable to the people at all times.” 

“Without the knowledge of [PA], the certifications were issued to DepEd to be able to justify the P15 million that was used allegedly for the payment of rewards. To this point, Mr. Chair, we're not even sure if that money was indeed paid as rewards to the informers,” she added.