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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider No conflict with Poa defending VP Sara in impeachment trial—Escudero

No conflict with Poa defending VP Sara in impeachment trial—Escudero

Published Aug 5, 2026 07:37 pm

At A Glance

  • Senate Impeachment Court presiding officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Wednesday, August 5, ruled that there is no conflict of interest on the part of Michael Poa, serving as defense counsel for Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial despite his participation in a 2023 meeting with the Commission on Audit (COA) on the use of confidential funds.


Senate Impeachment Court presiding officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Wednesday, August 5, ruled that there is no conflict of interest on the part of Michael Poa, serving as defense counsel for Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial despite his participation in a 2023 meeting with the Commission on Audit (COA) on the use of confidential funds.

On Day 13 of the trial, Escudero pointed this out when Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo questioned Poa’s role in the proceedings when he sought to be clarified on the testimony of Roderick Wamil, who was part of COA's Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO).

Wamil had earlier testified that Poa was among the Department of Education (DepEd) and Office of the Vice President's (OVP) officials who were part of the meeting where they asked for an "audit query" instead of an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM)  during the time they were conducting an audit of the CIFs of the two agencies in 2023.

Also in his testimony, Wamil said Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and former COA-ICFAO head Nilda Plaras were present at the meeting.

Currently, the Senate impeachment court is hearing the prosecution's evidence on Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, which alleges that the Vice President committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust over the alleged misuse of confidential funds during her tenure as vice president and as secretary of DepEd.

“Atty. Poa, although he served under the Office of the Vice President, I believe, and even under DepEd, is not a named respondent to this case and is in fact one of the lawyers, as you can see, of the respondent,” Escudero said in response to Tulfo’s question.

“I believe there is no conflict with respect to that given that he is not the one on trial in this case,” he said.

When Poa asked the presiding officer if he can be given a few minutes to explain to provide the context of the meeting, since he had been alluded to during the proceedings, Escudero declined his request.

“You will have the appropriate opportunity during your presentation of evidence in chief, if you choose to do so, to explain that meeting,” Escudero said in his answer to Poa.

Related Tags

Michael Poa Duterte impeachment case 2026 Senate Impeachment Court Chiz Escudero Raffy Tulfo confidential and intelligence funds 2026
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