THE House prosecution will seek hostile witness status for Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s defense lawyer Michael Wesley Poa when it puts the former Department of Education (DepEd) official on the witness stand next week.
“He (Poa) is actually part of the defense panel, so he is adversarial to the position that the prosecution panel is standing on,” prosecution spokesperson Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said Thursday.
“So, in effect, that is very clear po na he would be presented by the prosecution panel as a hostile witness,” he added.
Poa, who served as Duterte’s chief of staff and spokesperson when she was education secretary, is set to be presented by the prosecution on Sept. 2 as it pursues the charge involving the alleged misuse of P112.5 million in DepEd confidential funds. He is now a member of Duterte’s defense team.
If granted, Poa would become the third prosecution witness to be declared hostile by the Senate impeachment court in connection with the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
Former Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta was the first. Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero declared her hostile after finding an adverse interest based on her continued employment under Duterte and the position she took in a counter-affidavit before the Office of the Ombudsman.
OVP Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio became the second after the court found that his continued co-terminus employment under Duterte gave him an adverse interest in the proceedings.
Alonto Adiong stressed that, as with Acosta and Ortonio, the prosecution cannot itself formally declare Poa hostile. It must first establish the grounds before the impeachment court.
“Kailangan po mag-qualify siya as a hostile witness. Only the impeachment court can actually qualify him to be as such,” he said.
Alonto Adiong said Poa’s former position in DepEd and his involvement in responding to audit findings are among the matters relevant to his expected testimony.
“Well, without giving too much information because this has yet to be laid out in the open court, what I can tell you right now is the official designation of Atty. Poa,” he said.
Alonto Adiong compared Poa’s former role in DepEd to that of Ortonio in the OVP.
Poa was also involved in DepEd’s response to an audit observation memorandum (AOM) involving its confidential funds.
“So it was also Atty. Poa who responded to the AOM,” Alonto Adiong said.
Poa’s expected appearance would put a member of Duterte’s current defense team on the witness stand for the prosecution to testify on matters that occurred while he was a senior DepEd official under Duterte.
Alonto Adiong declined to disclose the prosecution’s planned line of questioning, including whether Poa would be questioned about interactions with the Commission on Audit after the agency’s confidential fund expenditures were flagged.
“Just without giving you how it will go, that would depend on the examination, or direct examination ng prosecution po kay Poa,” he said.
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