MANILA, Philippines — A retired general that Vice President Sara Duterte appointed to the Department of Education in 2023 faced House lawmakers on Thursday, October 17 to repeatedly deny DepEd's use of confidential funds for so-called military-led "youth leadership summits," raising even more questions on where the department actually spent its secret funds in 2023.
Nolasco Mempin — who served as DepEd's undersecretary for administration in 2023 before stepping down in July — insisted DepEd did not release "a single centavo" of confidential funds for the conduct of the leadership summits, even as the department submitted four certifications to the Commission on Audit (COA) indicating otherwise.
The "discrepancy" was flagged by Rep. Gerville Luistro (Batangas, 2nd District) during the House good government panel's high-profile probe on the alleged irregular spending practices of DepEd under Duterte, who led the department from 2022 to mid-2024.
Citing an audit observation memorandum, Luistro said state auditors disallowed P15.54 million out of DepEd's P112.5-million confidential expenses in 2023 because it did not provide enough supporting documents that it actually spent the funds for "rewards to informers." Initially, P75 million was disallowed, but the department justified most of it, leaving P15.54 million still unaccounted for, Luistro said.
To clear itself of the P15.54 million disallowance, DepEd sent COA four certificates that Mempin personally requested from the Philippine Army that detail the conduct of so-called leadership summits. This information includes the number of participants and the date when these summits took place, among others.
This was confirmed by audit documents and by three Philippine Army commanders — Lt. Col. Manaros M. Boransing II, Lt. Col. Magtango Panopioand and Lt. Col. Carlos Sangdaan Jr. — during the hearing.
This, for Luistro, underscored the contradictory nature of Mempin's responses. The lawmaker said: "A while ago, you said you did not know about confidential funds... But I hope you understand that the certifications I confirmed from the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] officers — four of them — pertains to the expenditure of P15 million taken from the confidential fund. And according to them, the certifications were required by you."
"If you are saying DepEd did not release funds for these youth leadership summits, where was the P15 million spent?" Luistro added.
Mempin again said he had no knowledge of DepEd's confidential expenditures, saying his task was "just to coordinate" and that the army officials who signed off on the certificates were his former classmates at the Philippine Military Academy.
Dissatisfied with Mempin's explanation, Luistro said: "General Mempin, your statements are completely contradictory to the stand and explanation of COA."
"While we believe these certifications were submitted to justify the P15 million allegedly paid as rewards to informers, all AFP officers, including General Mempin... are now stating that DepEd did not use any of its confidential funds for the Youth Leadership Summits," Luistro said. "These statements completely contradict what DepEd led COA to believe with the submission of these certifications."
Former DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa confirmed in a previous hearing that the youth leadership summits were not directly organized by DepEd but by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as part of its anti-insurgency campaign.
Luistro noted DepEd remains one of the few civilian agencies with no mandate to address national security to have been granted confidential funds.