By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — House prosecution panel counsel Atty. Lorna Kapunan on Wednesday dismissed allegations that Vice President Sara Duterte’s legal counsel, Atty. Michael Poa, is facing a conflict of interest for representing the embattled official in the ongoing Senate impeachment trial.
Kapunan made the clarification after Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo questioned Poa’s participation in the proceedings, noting that Commission on Audit (COA) Supervising Auditor Roderick Wamil had earlier testified about meeting Poa during the audit of confidential funds used by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).
According to Kapunan, Poa’s appearance before the impeachment court is strictly in his capacity as a lawyer and does not create a legal conflict.
“He is here acting in his capacity as a lawyer, and lawyers are entitled to represent different clients. His role in this case is separate, and as the presiding officer already ruled, he is neither a respondent nor an accused. There is no conflict of interest,” Kapunan told reporters.
Her remarks echoed the earlier ruling of Senate impeachment court presiding officer Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who rejected concerns raised during the interpellation of prosecution witness Wamil.
Wamil previously testified that in September 2023 he met with Poa—then serving as Department of Education spokesperson—and OVP chief of staff Zuleika Lopez following COA’s audit of the confidential funds utilized by the OVP and DepEd. The audit covered expenditures from the fourth quarter of 2022 through the third quarter of 2023, when Duterte simultaneously headed the Department of Education.
During his testimony, Wamil said officials from Duterte’s camp suggested that COA conduct what they described as an “audit query,” a procedure that the constitutional commission does not recognize under its auditing rules.
Instead of acting on the request, COA issued an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM), formally identifying deficiencies in documents submitted by both the OVP and DepEd concerning their confidential fund expenditures. The agencies were instructed to provide supporting records to address the audit findings.
The issue surfaced anew during Wednesday’s impeachment proceedings as senator-judges continued examining the handling of confidential funds, one of the central issues in the case against the Vice President.
ia/xf
