Poa disavows liquidation of DepEd funds

MANILA, Philippines —  Although he signed the Department of Education’s replies to a state audit on confidential funds, lawyer Michael Poa, Vice President Sara Duterte’s second-in-command at DepEd, yesterday washed his hands of the matter, pointing responsibility instead to a former special disbursing officer (SDO) who is currently unavailable due to a medical condition.

During Day 21 of the impeachment trial of the Vice President yesterday, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian questioned Poa’s role in liquidating millions of pesos in confidential funds, focusing on how DepEd replied to the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding their issuance of an Audit Observation Memorandum.

An AOM is a warning from auditors about paperwork errors or financial issues that need fixing. In this case, DepEd was being asked to prove that the released confidential funds resulted in successful operations.

In the twin responses by DepEd signed by Poa, Gatchalian pointed out that the former undersecretary made a “definitive” claim that intelligence from informants directly resulted in successful military operations. 

Gatchalian noted the discrepancy between Poa’s written statements to COA and his more tentative answers during earlier House hearings, where he used phrases like “in theory.”

Poa, an undersecretary-level official at DepEd, said that he merely signed the letters based on what he was told by DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda.

“The reply to the AOM, that was what the SDO told me. The SDO is the one with the personal knowledge,” Poa testified. 

“When I wrote that letter it was a representation of the position of DepEd based on imputes given by the SDO and what I saw in the certification,” he added.

Asked if Fajarda confirmed that he handed cash rewards to informants for actionable intelligence, Poa admitted the SDO never said so.

Gatchalian then asked why Poa never consulted the agency’s designated security officer to verify the success of the supposed intelligence operations before signing the COA replies.

“Even the security officer, I wasn’t aware that there was a security officer and I did not see nor meet Col. (Dennis) Nolasco during my time at DepEd,” Poa said, referring to the official reportedly tasked with handling such operations.

Gatchalian expressed skepticism at Poa’s process, suggesting the former undersecretary formulated a justification for the funds first before scrambling to find evidence to support it.

Despite the testimony from AFP officials, the defense maintained the COA did not reopen the credit notice it issued on the P112.5-million confidential funds of DepEd.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said it is important for Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, the Office of the Vice President’s then-security chief, to testify about their role in releasing the funds to the alleged informants. – Bella Cariaso, Marc Jayson Cayabyab