Poa prepared DepEd reply to COA but unaware security officer handled confi funds

TRIAL. Department of Education former chief of staff Michael Poa takes the witness stand in the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on September 2, 2026. Senate screenshot Former DepEd official Michael Poa confirms that he only learned that there was a security officer involved in handling the agency's confidential funds when it was brought up at a House hearing in 2024 Former DepEd chief of staff Michael Poa confirmed that he was unaware of the transfer of confidential funds to Vice President Sara Duterte's security officer, Colonel Dennis Nolasco. The prosecution aims to demonstrate Poa's lack of knowledge regarding the secret expenditures he defended, highlighting that he was tasked with responding to COA despite not being involved in the disbursement or receipt of the funds. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. MANILA, Philippines – Former Department of Education chief of staff Michael Poa confirmed on Wednesday, September 2, that while he prepared the DepEd’s response to the 2024 findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the agency’s confidential funds use, he was unaware that it was the security officer of Vice President and then-education secretary Sara Duterte who handled the funds. “Was it the first time you heard it during that hearing…the funds were transferred to Colonel [Dennis] Nolasco?” private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. asked Poa at Duterte’s impeachment trial, referring to a House inquiry in November 2024 where details of the fund turnover were revealed. “I’ll be more precise. Actually, it was the first time that there was a security officer,” added Poa, the third hostile witness of the prosecution after former Office of the Vice President special disbursing officer Gina Acosta and OVP Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio. The turnover of funds by then-special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda to Nolasco is said to be a violation of the joint circular on confidential spending, which states that only the SDO shall disburse the secret funds. When COA slapped DepEd with an audit observation memorandum in February 2024, it had flagged the agency’s P75 million in confidential spending due to insufficient documentation. DepEd’s explained its fund utilization in a reply letter in April 2024, and even attached certifications from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on the success of its youth leadership summits. The DepEd supposedly spent P15 million for reward payments in connection with the activities. Military officials previously confirmed that the DepEd did not give any funds to the AFP for the conduct of the said counterinsurgency activities. Poa also confirmed on Wednesday that no transfer of funds between the agencies occurred. DepEd has justified the spending by saying that informants were paid for leads that enabled the agency to identify programs, information campaigns, and interventions against violent extremism. “It’s not to fund an event but it’s to fund the gathering of information as to target areas…. Where does recruitment happen? Where is insurgency rampant?” Poa said. ‘Abogadong walang alam’ The prosecution’s strategy is to show that Poa did not have knowledge of the secret expenditures he had defended to COA. “He answered for P112.5 million he absolutely knew nothing about,” Tolosa said, referring to the total secret funds received by DepEd across three quarters of 2023. “Siya ang inatasan na sumagot sa COA, hindi ang SDO, hindi ang nag-disburse ng pera, hindi ang tumanggap ng pera. Ang abogadong walang alam (The lawyer with no knowledge was tasked to answer to COA, not the SDO, not the person who disbursed the money, not the person who received the money),” he added. Tolosa’s remark on Poa’s lack of knowledge about the confidential funds triggered the first of many clashes between the prosecution and the defense today, with lead defense lawyer Sheila Sison representing the other side of the bench and often registering objections that were frequently sustained by presiding officer Chiz Escudero. The remark was also ordered stricken off the record. COA has already cleared DepEd’s confidential use for the first two quarters of 2023 through a credit notice — a document issued by COA to indicate that an amount is evaluated, allowed in audit, and considered settled. COA issued the credit notice in August 2024, preceding the House inquiry in October that unearthed revelations on DepEd’s use of AFP certification for a summit it did not fund. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading