PH
The House prosecution panel will call in defense lawyer Michael Poa as its witness for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte next week.
Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro of Batangas said Poa will testify on how the Department of Education (DepEd) disbursed P112.5 million in confidential funds during Duterte's tenure as Education secretary.
Poa served as DepEd Undersecretary and the agency's spokesperson when it was under Duterte's leadership.
"In order to maximize the schedule that is given to us by the Honorable Impeachment Court for September 2, that is next Wednesday, Your Honor, we would like to respectfully move for the issuance of subpoena ad testificandum to Attorney Michael Wesley T. Poa, if the same should be necessary, as well as to Ms. Marizza B. Grande of the PSA," Luistro said, referring to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Grande is set to testify on whether the identity of the recipients of the confidential fund as stated in the liquidation documents submitted by the OVP are reflected in government records.
Senate impeachment court presiding officer Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero responded to Luistro's motion favorably, although he noted that Poa was already present in court and "more than willing to testify," making issuing Poa a subpoena or order to testify unnecessary.
"Given that Atty. Poa is here and more than willing to testify, as intimated earlier, then we jump to Atty. Poa, should the other earlier two witnesses fail to appear on September 1, without need of issuing a subpoena to Atty. Poa," Escudero added.
The Senate impeachment court, however, issued a revised subpoena for other two witnesses for the prosecution, Colonel Manaros Boransing II and Colonel Magtangol Panopio, given that Boransing asked that his appearance be moved to September 1 because he needed to coordinate with his military superiors before leaving his post as commanding officer of Task Force Zamboanga.
Panopio is also expected to show up for this testimony before the Senate impeachment court on September 1.
As this developed, the House prosecution team dropped retired Major General Bajao as a witness after the Senate impeachment court encountered difficulty serving him a subpoena because his address could not be established.
Back in October 2024, Poa told the House good government and public accountability panel inquiry that he asked then-DepEd Undersecretary and retired Major General Nolasco Mempin to request certifications from military units to back up the department's spending of the P15 million in confidential funds for informants in 2023.
Boransing, Panopio, and Bajao said then that they indeed issued military certifications but maintained they were not aware that these were used to liquidate the DepEd's confidential funds.
"For our participants... they used the local government unit funds. For the participants from the other stakeholders from DepEd, from PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency), from the police, of course they used their own funds," Boransing said then.
"We are not aware," Boransing added when asked about the purpose of certifications.
Also on Tuesday, the Senate impeachment court granted the prosecution's motion to mark additional documents it received from the PSA ahead of Grande's testimony.
Source: GMA News
Date posted: August 26, 2026 4:55pm