By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — The Save Our Schools (SOS) Network has rejected Sen. Robinhood Padilla’s allegations involving Lumad schools, saying claims that Indigenous schools recruited “child warriors” do not establish how confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte were spent or liquidated.
The group issued the clarification after Padilla brought up the alleged recruitment of communist fighters in alternative and Lumad schools during Duterte’s impeachment proceedings.
For the SOS Network, the allegations are beside the point.
It said the Senate impeachment court is examining the use and accountability of confidential funds, and accusations involving Lumad schools cannot substitute for documentary evidence showing where those funds went.
The network also disputed the timeline surrounding the schools mentioned during the hearing.
It said the Lumad schools had already been shut down in 2019 over alleged links to the communist armed movement—almost three years before Duterte assumed leadership of the Department of Education.
Although Padilla did not identify particular schools, the SOS Network said the figures cited by the senator appeared to match the 55 Salugpongan schools permanently closed by DepEd Region XI.
The organization rejected the description of these institutions as recruitment centers for child combatants.
It said the schools were established to bring education to Indigenous communities in remote areas where conventional public schools were often difficult to access.
The group maintained that their role in providing culturally appropriate education should not simply be replaced by allegations portraying them as “child-warrior breeding grounds.”
Padilla raised the issue while questioning state auditor Xylene del Campo, who had testified about audit findings involving the Office of the Vice President and DepEd.
The senator asked whether Del Campo was aware of alleged communist recruitment in alternative and Lumad schools.
Her answer was no.
Del Campo also repeatedly emphasized that her audit work focused on the records and supporting documents submitted by the OVP and DepEd.
That testimony, according to the SOS Network, underscores the gap between the allegations raised by Padilla and the actual audit issues being examined by the impeachment court.
The SOS Network stressed that allegations involving Lumad schools do not, by themselves, prove how confidential funds were disbursed or liquidated during Duterte’s tenure.
The group said lawmakers must rely on evidence directly connected to the spending under scrutiny rather than use unrelated or historical allegations to explain questionable expenditures.
The dispute comes as Duterte’s impeachment trial continues to examine accusations involving her conduct in public office, including allegations concerning confidential funds during her time as Vice President and education secretary.
The SOS Network said the history of Lumad education should be treated separately from the issue of confidential fund accountability.
For the group, the central question remains straightforward: Where did the confidential funds go, and what evidence supports their use?
Claims about Lumad schools, it argued, do not answer that question.
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