Cheyenne Suarez

Conflict of interest? Tulfo questions Duterte lawyer's meeting with COA

Article (news)

Jaehwa Bernardo

Katrina Domingo

Johnson Manabat

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/1785898173002pao.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo, left, and lawyer Michael Poa.<em> Photos by Voltaire F. Domingo, Senate Social Media Unit (Tulfo) and Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News (Poa) </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo questioned Wednesday whether Vice President Sara Duterte&#x27;s lawyer, Michael Poa, had a conflict of interest in defending her over the use of confidential funds.</p><p>Tuflo&#x27;s question stemmed from the revelation that Poa had previously met with state auditors, including one of the witnesses in the impeachment case against Duterte, to discuss the matter.</p><p>&quot;Hindi ba conflict of interest iyon para siya&#x27;y mag-represent dito ngayon sa pinag-uusapang confidential funds when in fact siya mismo pumunta doon sa COA (Commission on Audit) office para makipag-usap sa kanila?&quot; Tulfo asked presiding officer Sen. Francis &quot;Chiz&quot; Escudero at the start of the trial.</p><div><strong><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/sara-duterte-impeachment-trial">Impeachment Trial of Sara Duterte </a></strong></div><p>In response, Escudero said there was no conflict of interest as Poa was not the respondent in the impeachment trial.</p><p>&quot;The respondent in this case, Senator-judge Tulfo, is the Honorable Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte. Atty. Poa... is not a named respondent to this case and in fact, he&#x27;s one of the lawyers, as you can see, of the respondent. I believe there is no conflict with respect to that given he is not the one in trial in this case,&quot; Escudero said.</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/WN57JTpraA4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Poa previously served as spokesperson at the Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte previously headed. He also worked at the Office of the Vice President (OVP).</p><p>The Senate impeachment court is hearing allegations that Duterte misused confidential funds allocated to both the OVP and DepEd.</p><p>On Tuesday, witness Roderick Wamil, an auditor who formerly worked with the Commission on Audit&#x27;s (COA) Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office, testified that he attended a meeting in September 2023 with Poa, OVP Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, and other COA officials.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/8/4/vp-duterte-staff-asked-coa-to-issue-audit-query-instead-of-observation-memo-witness-1327"><strong>READ: VP Duterte staff asked COA to issue audit query instead of observation memo—witness<br/></strong></a></div><p>During the meeting, Duterte&#x27;s staff inquired about the liquidation process for confidential funds and requested that the COA issue an audit query instead of an Audit Observation Memorandum, Wamil recounted.</p><p>Wamil also clarified, when questioned by Tulfo, that he was not intimidated during the meeting with Poa  </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>‘DEAD ISSUE’ </strong></div><div> </div><p>During the post-trial briefing, Poa noted that Wamil said other agencies also met with COA to seek guidance on the liquidation process.  </p><p>“Ang sa akin lang is na-clarify na hindi iligal yung ganong meeting. Hindi lang OVP or DepEd ang ahensiyang nakikipag-meeting. At panghuli is that yung conflict of interest, it was already ruled upon by the presiding officer so I don’t have to argue for myself,” Poa told reporters.  </p><p>“I really don’t want to make a big fuss out of this - I hope you understand kasi it&#x27;s a dead issue for me,” he added.  </p><p>Poa added that it was COA-ICFAO that invited the OVP to the said meeting. </p><p>“They wanted to talk to OVP, so inimbitahan lang ako kung puwede akong sumama and at that time I was also OIC-Usec for Finance,” he said. </p><p>He also explained why the OVP asked for an audit query instead of an AOM. </p><p>“Basically it wasn’t even me — it was really OVP because hindi naman napag-usapan yung DepEd don sa meeting na yun… We were there just to clarify guidelines,” Poa told reporters. </p><p>“So siyempre, ang posisyon namin kung ika-clarify lang naman yung guidelines bakit hindi audit query ang gawin nila. You can actually download the audit query memorandum in the COA website para malaman ‘nyo rin,” he added. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>PROSECUTION AGREES WITH ESCUDERO</strong></div><div><br/></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/vLJdsaEQTL4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span>Meanwhile, the prosecution panel agrees with Escudero’s ruling that there was no conflict of interest in Poa’s participation in the impeachment trial, counsel for prosecutors Lorna Kapunan said. </div><p>“I agree with the ruling of the presiding judge. He (Poa) is here acting in his capacity as lawyer, and lawyers are entitled to defend their clients,” Kapunan told reporters on the sidelines of the 13th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial.</p><p>“Iba ang personality ni Atty. Poa in this case at sabi nga ni Presiding Officer [Francis Escudero], hindi naman siya ang respondent o accused dito so wala tayong conflict of interest,” she said.</p><p>“There is no conflict of interest and I think it is ethical that he represents his client based on what he feels he should be doing,” she added.</p><p>When asked for his reaction, Poa said: “The Presiding officer has ruled so I think that’s settled.”</p><p>In July 2024, Poa resigned from the DepEd about a month after Duterte broke off with the Marcos Jr. administration.</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/8Bqf5XteNwE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo questioned whether Vice President Sara Duterte's lawyer, Michael Poa, had a conflict of interest in defending her over the use of confidential funds.</p>

Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo questioned whether Vice President Sara Duterte's lawyer, Michael Poa, had a conflict of interest in defending her over the use of confidential funds.

Tulfo questions possible conflict of interest involving Duterte lawyer over COA meeting

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Tulfo questions possible conflict of interest involving Duterte lawyer over COA meeting

Jaehwa Bernardo,

Katrina Domingo,

Johnson Manabat,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 05, 2026 10:50 AM PHT

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Updated August 05, 2026 05:30 PM PHT

Read More:

Sara Duterte impeachment trial

Raffy Tulfo

Roderick Wamil

confidential funds

Michael Poa

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