Impeachment endorser La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V says the House prosecution panel will known what to do in the event witness Michael Poa invokes his lawyer-client privilege with impeachment trial respondent, Vice President Sara Duterte.

In an virtual interview over the weekend, Ortega expressed belief that prosecutors have already anticipated this defense strategy, which had been one of the talking points leading to trial given Poa's former role under Duterte over at the Department of Education (DepEd).

“Well, isa po ’yan sa pinaghahandaan ng prosecution (That's one of the things the prosecution is preparing for),” Ortega said.

“Kung hiningi ng prosecutors o ng prosecution team na maging parte po siya sa roster of witnesses, kahit na hostile witness po siya, ibig sabihin nakahanda po ’yung team para po sa kahit anong bagay na kanyang maaaring sabihin or i-invoke, or ultimately kung strategy man nila ’yon,” added the House deputy speaker.

(If the prosecutors or the prosecution team asked him to be part of the roster of witnesses, even as a hostile witness, it means the team is prepared for anything he may say or invoke, or ultimately, if that is indeed their strategy.)

Poa served as DepEd undersecretary, chief-of-staff and spokesperson during Duterte’s tenure as education secretary from 2022 to 2024.

Poa was made part of her defense team in the Senate impeachment trial--a move that raised eyebrows from impeachment supporters due to the possibility that the lawyer might opt to shut up.

Poa has said he is willing to testify on matters involving his time at DepEd but may invoke lawyer-client privilege when necessary on matters related to his role as Duterte’s counsel.

In 2024, the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability held an inquiry into Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds. Poa, one of the invited resource persons, pointed to the Vice President as being the one responsible for the funds.

“Central figure po kasi siya, eh (He is a central figure)," Ortega said of Poa.

The prosecution is set to present Poa as third hostile witness in the trial after former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta and Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio.

According to Ortega, Poa could potentially provide more significant information in the impeachment trial than the Vice President’s former security officer Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.

“Mas nakikita ko pa nga ’yung weight ng pag-testify niya o pag-upo niya kaysa po ’yung weight ng pag-upo ni Col. Lachica. Dahil sa tingin ko, at the end of the day, mas marami pong information na alam si Atty. Poa kaysa po kay Lachica,” he said.

(I actually see more weight in his testifying or taking the stand than in Col. Lachica taking the stand. Because I think that, at the end of the day, Atty. Poa knows more information than Lachica.)

Acosta had earlier testified before senator-judges that she released P500 million worth of confidential funds in four tranches to then-OVP security officer Lachica, upon Duterte’s orders.

The House prosecution has said Lachica’s testimony may no longer be necessary because Acosta and Ortonio, along with documentary evidence already presented, have sufficiently established the fund trail it sought to prove.

The prosecution is currently presenting evidence under article I involving Duterte’s alleged misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of P612.5 million in confidential funds — P500 million at the OVP covering December 2022 and the first three quarters of 2023, and P112.5 million at DepEd while she served as education secretary in 2023.