Four military officials testified on Thursday before a House panel that they would not have issued certifications for Youth Leadership Summits (YLS) had they known the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte would be using them to justify a P15-million payment from confidential funds allegedly allocated to pay informants.
The disclosure came during Bukidnon 2nd District Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores's questioning of retired Maj. Gen. Adonis Bajao, Lt. Col. Carlos Sangdaan Jr., and Colonels Manaros Boransing and Magtangol Panopio in the ongoing inquiry by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability into the alleged misuse of public funds by the Office of the Vice President and DepEd under Duterte's leadership.
The officers had issued certifications for the Youth Leadership Summits (YLS), a regular anti-insurgency program conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in 2023.
However, DepEd reportedly used these certifications for a different purpose—to justify a P15-million expense for informant rewards.
Flores asked Boransing if he would have issued the certifications had he known their intended use.
Boransing responded, "If we had known that the certification was going to be used to justify expenses that never passed through our office, we would not have issued it."
He said it is AFP policy not to issue certifications for events or expenses in which the military was not directly involved.
"If someone from another agency asked for a certification for something we were not present for, we would not issue a certificate of appearance or any certification at all," Boransing explained.
Panopio agreed, stating, "If we are aware that it will be used to justify expenses we had no hand in, we will not issue the certification."
Sangdaan echoed this sentiment, simply saying, "I would not," when asked if he would have issued the certification had he known its true purpose.
Before this, Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro asked the officers if they knew their certifications would be used to justify DepEd's P15-million payout to informers.
"We are not aware, Ma'am," Bajao replied, a response echoed by the other military officials.
All four officers denied any knowledge that their certifications would be used to support DepEd's claim of using confidential funds for informant rewards.
Luistro further noted that the certifications, meant solely to confirm the military's participation in YLS, were used without the AFP's knowledge to justify DepEd's payout.
"Without the knowledge of the AFP, the certification was issued to DepEd to justify the P15 million allegedly used for the payment of rewards," she said.
"To this point, Mr. Chair, we're not even sure whether that money was indeed paid as a reward to informers," Luistro added.
The military officials made it clear their certifications were only for the YLS activities, not to authorize any financial transactions related to informants.
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