Attorney Michael Poa, education department’s former chief of staff and finance officer, and also a part of Vice President Duterte’s defense team, takes to the stand before the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Photo by Joseph B. Vidal / Senate Social Media Unit
Manuel Mogato | September 3, 2026
MANILA — A lawyer, who has close links to Vice President Sara Duterte, on Wednesday testified at the Senate impeachment court he relied solely on the education department’s disbursing officer when he responded to state auditors who flagged discrepancies in the confidential and intelligence funds.
Taking the witness stand, Michael Poa, education department’s former chief of staff and finance officer, said he was clueless on how the secret fund was liquidated because only the disbursing officer and the head of agency knew how the department’s 112 million pesos confidential and intelligence funds were used.
He was also unaware the department has a security officer who he did not meet during his stay at the agency headed by the vice president even if he prepared the response to the 2024 findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the agency’s confidential funds use.
“Actually, it was the first time I learned there was a security officer,” Poa said when he attended a congressional hearing in October 2024.
He was declared as 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. (Also read: Disbursement officer points to the Vice President for approving a fund transfer to an Army colonel)
Colonel Dennis Nolasco who served as security officer handled the confidential and intelligence fund for the education department.
Poa said he found nothing wrong when former special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda transferred the funds to Nolasco for disbursement, 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.
In his response to state auditors, Poa attached four Army certifications showing success of its youth leadership summits.
The DepEd had liquidated 15 million pesos for reward payments in connection with the activities.
But two Army colonels had testified the military did not get any funding from the education department, which Poa confirmed. (Also read: Education department uses the Army’s certification of participation to justify confidential funds)
Poa said the 15 million pesos was given to informants who provided intelligence information to the Army.
“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.
The prosecution’s strategy was to show that Poa did not have knowledge of the secret expenditures he had defended to COA.
