Col. Manaros Boransing II said no funds from the Department of Education or Vice President Sara Duterte’s office, confidential or otherwise, were given to his unit in the Philippine Army for its youth leadership summits and information campaigns in 2023.
Boransing made the statement during Duterte’s impeachment trial as he was asked about his issuance of a certification requested by the DepEd concerning the conduct of the Army’s Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) and the Information Education Communication (IEC) campaign.
The certification stated that the 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division collaborated with various agencies, including the DepEd, for the activities that were carried out from January 1 to December 31, 2023, and which resulted in zero recruitment of the youth by communist terrorist groups.
The DepEd submitted the certification to the Commission on Audit to justify its use of confidential funds to pay P15.54 million in rewards to informants.
Boransing said that when he issued the certification, he assumed that it would be for attendance purposes.
He said other government agencies that participate in the YLS and IEC also requested certifications.
According to Boransing, the government agencies that took part in the activities spent for their own personnel.
The expenses of the students and out-of-school youth participants were funded by their local governments.
His Philippine Army unit did not receive any DepEd or OVP funds, confidential or otherwise.
“No funds whatsoever or any amount was downloaded to the 1st Infantry Tabak Division for 2023 for the Youth Leadership Summit and Information Education Communication campaign, by any government agency,” he said.
Boransing also said that he only knew that his certification was submitted to the COA to justify confidential fund spending when it was mentioned during the October 2024 House hearing on Duterte’s confidential funds.
Asked how he reacted when he learned about this, he said he had none.
“I did not have any reaction sir, because we conducted the youth leadership summit in coordination and with the help of all the stakeholders sir, and we had our own problems in our areas of operation 2023. During that time, we just had the bombing in Marawi. So frankly speaking, at least for us, we had more important things to do,” he said.