Michael Poa as witness: Good or bad idea for the prosecution?

Michael Wesley Poa, spokesperson for Vice President Sara Duterte and part of her defense team in an impeachment trial, will take on a different role on Wednesday, September 2 — as the prosecution’s witness. The court is hearing the prosecution’s evidence of Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds from both the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education. This makes sense in a way, considering that Poa was chief of staff and spokesperson when Duterte was the DepEd chief. So, sure. But is this a good idea for the prosecution? Let’s not forget, Poa himself is no ordinary lawyer; he’s a litigator. He knows how court proceedings work and understands the law. He knows how to argue before a court. Poa’s wealth of legal experience is evident every time he does cross-examination for the defense. He is calm and collected, but manages to extract the information needed by the defense. He even held his own when he faced House prosecutor Chel Diokno during oral arguments on the request to subpoena Duterte’s financial records last month. Additionally, Poa would also be somehow freer in expressing his thoughts because he will not be acting as counsel, but as a witness. Poa said he will answer whatever question is thrown at him, as long as it’s within his personal knowledge about DepEd’s confidential funds. “If the questions cover or will be about DepEd and my participation [in] the audit observation memorandum (AOM), the reply to the AOM, I will answer them just like what I did in the House,” the defense spokesperson said on August 26. Also, Poa really had familiarity with the issue. Under him, COA cleared DepEd over questions on the P75-million confidential funds. Must Read COA cleared DepEd over P75-M confidential funds issue – Sara Duterte’s defense So putting the defense lawyer on the witness stand might be a gamble for the prosecution. A challenge, definitely, but if the prosecutors are successful in getting the information they need from Poa, then it would be a plus to their case against Duterte. Another challenge, of course, is Poa’s obvious inclination toward the defense. To dispel any claim, any allegation of witness tampering, Poa stayed inside the holding area for the witnesses on Tuesday. This was according to defense deputy spokesperson Justin Nicol Gular. Poa also did not sit beside defense lawyers inside the Senate plenary hall as would be usual; nor did he enter the defense lawyers’ holding area. At this point, only Poa knows how his responses will go. For Gular, the public should just wait for the Wednesday trial. “Let’s just wait for his testimony,” said the deputy spokesperson. – Rappler.com