Army officials to Impeachment Court: Certifications not meant to justify Duterte confidential funds

Metro Manila, Philippines – Two army officials who issued certifications later used by the Department of Education under then Secretary Vice President Sara Duterte to justify millions of pesos in confidential fund spending said the documents were not intended for that purpose.

During Day 20 of the impeachment trial on Tuesday, Sept. 1, the prosecution presented Col. Manaros Boransing II and Col. Magtanggol Panopio, who were in charge of civil-military operations at the 1st and 7th Infantry Divisions, which cover the Zamboanga Peninsula and Central Luzon, respectively.

They were involved in youth leadership summits and information and education campaigns that DepEd cited as activities for which the ₱15.54 million in confidential funds were supposedly used to pay rewards to informants.

Certifications issued by Boransing and Panopio were submitted by DepEd to the Commission on Audit as part of the liquidation of its 2023 confidential funds. However, both officials said they only learned that their certifications had been used for this purpose during hearings of the House committee on good government and public accountability in October 2024.

Boransing said he issued his certification merely as proof of attendance, noting that government agencies participating in such activities would typically request such documentation.

As he testified during the House proceedings, Boransing said that, to his knowledge, DepEd did not provide funds to the army division. He added that he had no personal knowledge of any confidential or intelligence information coming from DepEd, noting that he was not the intelligence officer.

“What I know is they arrived there, they were there during the youth leadership summits and traveling as I know in the government entails expenses and permission to leave the posts,” he said. 

Panopio, meanwhile, said he was surprised to learn that the certification he issued had been used as a liquidation document.

“Medyo nagulat po kami kasi ‘yun pong aming certification, is only for the certification that we conducted the youth leadership summit. Hindi po namin sine-certify anything about money or funds,” Panopio said. 

[Translation: We were somewhat surprised because our certification was only meant to certify that we conducted the youth leadership summit. We did not certify anything about money or funds.]

Lead defense lawyer Sheila Sison, however, pointed out that Boransing’s certification specifically stated that the army and DepEd had “successfully collaborated,” resulting in the non-recruitment of students by the communist terrorist group (CTG).

Other certifications stated that the agencies’ collaborative efforts had “insulated” students from the CTG threat and informed them about the ills of terrorism, Sison said. 

“We will never stipulate that there were no confidential information or intelligence information shared by the DepEd under the VP’s term as its secretary using the confidential funds,” Sison stressed. 

The Impeachment Court is currently tackling the article concerning Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds, which the prosecution aims to complete by next week.