Jamaine Punzalan

Vice President Sara Duterte arrives at the Senate on the second day of the impeachment trial on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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VP Sara Impeachment

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178477768254320260707-senate-impeachment-sara-diuterte-MT4.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte arrives at the Senate on the second day of the impeachment trial on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte “has never been violent” and her lawyers aim to show that “what she is being portrayed as is actually not what she is” during her impeachment trial, defense spokesman Michael Poa said Thursday. </p><p>“Nasabi nga noong minsan, nabato ako ng laptop, that&#x27;s not true, totally not true. Hindi ako nabato ng laptop or anything,” Poa told ANC’s “Headstart.” </p><p>“I’ve never seen her done that. She’s never been violent. She’s never even raised her voice at me,” he said. </p><p>Poa, who has been working with Duterte since 2022, said the Vice President is “very decisive” and “knows what she wants.”</p><p>“And to be honest, I’ve never seen any outburst or outrage,” Poa said. “If they’re saying that because of that press conference…they consider that as an outburst, then that’s why we need to show context on why that happened. It’s not her character kasi. That’s something we need to successfully show in the public.” </p><p>“In a way, we have to show na what she is being portrayed as is actually not what she is,” he added. </p><p>Duterte’s Senate trial opened with the impeachment article that accuses her of committing grave threats when she said in a November 2024 online conference that she had arranged for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be killed if she were assassinated first.</p><p>“Sa amin, hindi pa naman talaga na-establish na banta yung nangyari. I always say we cannot deny the utterance… But it&#x27;s really more of the context,” Poa said.</p><p>“Sa amin, siyempre ang position, that doesn’t rise to the level of an impeachable offense, but that is a political question in a way because it will depend on the senator-judges on how they appreciate that and if they think simply making a threat against the officials of our land is already an impeachable offense. That’s up to them,” he said. </p><div><a href="http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/news/nation/2026/7/21/matibag-sara-duterte-remarks-vs-marcos-a-threat-to-national-security-1559">Matibag: Sara Duterte remarks vs Marcos a threat to national security</a></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Ln7LQkGFKU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>SHERIFF PUNCHING</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Earlier this week, footage of a 2011 incident in which Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, punched a sheriff was played as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag took the witness stand.</p><p>Matibag cited the incident as one of the cases the NBI considered in establishing what it described as a<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/21/-pattern-of-violence-duterte-s-sheriff-punching-incident-raised-in-impeachment-trial-1603"> “pattern of violence” </a>while investigating Duterte’s alleged threat against Marcos. </p><p>“I think context is important,” Poa said, noting that Sen. Christopher Go on Wednesday recounted the events surrounding the incident. </p><p>Go, during the senator-judges’ time to interpellate Matibag, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/22/bong-go-explains-context-behind-duterte-s-sheriff-punching-incident-1728">explained the incident happened during a demolition operation</a> involving 217 families who were then dealing with the aftermath of a flash flood that killed 31 individuals. </p><p>He said Duterte requested the sheriff to postpone the demolition, as the families had nowhere to go.</p><p>Poa also noted that the Supreme Court has defined impeachable offenses  as “acts or omissions committed while someone is occupying an impeachable office.” </p><p>“Noong mga panahon na yun, hindi pa naman siya impeachable officer,” he said. </p><p>“We don’t want to discount that, but proper context on kung ano yung mga surrounding circumstances kung bakit may mga ganoong nangyari.” </p><div> <span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/svEaudlp5ZM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dEEmE3OLgxg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Vice President Sara Duterte “has never been violent” and her lawyers aim to show that “what she is being portrayed as is actually not what she is” during her impeachment trial, defense spokesman Michael Poa said Thursday.</p>

Vice President Sara Duterte “has never been violent” and her lawyers aim to show that “what she is being portrayed as is actually not what she is” during her impeachment trial, defense spokesman Michael Poa said Thursday.

‘She’s never been violent’: Poa says Duterte is not ‘what she is being portrayed as’

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‘She’s never been violent’: Poa says Duterte is not ‘what she is being portrayed as’

Jamaine Punzalan,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 23, 2026 11:52 AM PHT

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Sara Duterte

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Duterte impeachment

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