Acidre sees through VP Duterte's chess move with Poa
At A Glance
- Former Department of Education (DepEd) spokesperson Michael Poa's inclusion in the legal defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte is just the impeached official's way of preventing him from testifying against her in the Senate impeachment trial, says House Assistant Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre.
Michael Poa (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB, Facebook)
Former Department of Education (DepEd) spokesperson Michael Poa's inclusion in the legal defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte is just the impeached official's way of preventing him from testifying against her in the Senate impeachment trial.
Thus, said House Assistant Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre in a virtual press conference Tuesday, March 4.
Poa is also a former spokesman of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
According to Acidre, Poa--who had previously been grilled by the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on the Vice President’s alleged misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds--can now invoke lawyer-client confidentiality.
This means that the Senate impeachment court won't be able to compel Poa to testify against Duterte, despite his being in a position to shed light on the confidential funds controversy.
“Kung ako tatanungin, medyo inaasahan ko na rin na gagawing kasama ng legal team si Atty. Mike Poa kasi sa totoo lang ho, pwede po silang magtago sa…principle ng lawyer-client confidentiality,” Acidre said.
(If you ask me, I kind of anticipated that Atty. Mike Poa would be made part of the legal team because in truth, they can now...hide behind the principle of lawyer-client confidentiality.)
“Makikita po natin ang isa na namang attempt to deflect. Kung tototohanin na gusto talaga ni Atty. Mike Poa, na kaibigan natin, na sabihin ng totoo, mayroon silang pagkakataon nung panahon nung investigation sa [Committee on] Good Government,” said the party-list solon.
(We can see another attempt to deflect. The truth is, if Atty. Mike Poa, who is our friend, wanted to tell the truth, he had the chance to do so during the time of the Committee on Good Government investigation.)
But Poa still has the chance to do so, the House leader said.
“Titignan natin kung ano ang mangingibabaw sa puso ni Atty. Mike, kung ang bayan o politika (We will see what will rule over Atty. Mike's heart, the country or politics)," Acidre said.
“Pero sa tingin ko dito, sa hakbang na ito na ginawa ng kampo ni VP Duterte, sa tingin ko pagpigil ito para kay Mike Poa na tumestigo sa impeachment court at magsabi ng totoo,” he said.
(But I think this step was undertaken by VP Duterte’s camp to prevent Mike Poa from testifying in the impeachment court and telling the truth.)