Rowegie Abanto

Lawyers Sheila Sison and Benjamin Tolosa. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Allison Co

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/1788325130278composites 2.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Lawyers Sheila Sison and Benjamin Tolosa. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Lawyers Sheila Sison and Benjamin Tolosa. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>MANILA — Defense and prosecution lawyers in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte exchanged fiery remarks as the Senate court opened Wednesday&#x27;s proceeding with Duterte lawyer Michael Poa taking the witness stand.</div><p>The tension between Sheila Sison, the defense team&#x27;s lead counsel, and private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa, concurrently a legal spokesperson for the opposing panel, began even before the direct examination of Poa, whose appearance as a witness was highly anticipated given his interesting situation.</p><p>Also a defense lawyer who took the lectern earlier in the trial, Poa served as Department of Education undersecretary, chief of staff and spokesperson when Duterte was also secretary of the agency.</p><p>Following Tolosa&#x27;s presentation of his 13-point offer of testimony for Poa, Sison characterized some parts as &quot;just rhetoric aimed to provide drama&quot; in the trial.</p><p>She particularly took issue with the prosecution&#x27;s &quot;abogadong walang alam&quot; (a lawyer with no knowledge) tag for Poa and asked the court to strike the phrase off the record, which presiding officer Francis Escudero granted.</p><p>Despite Escudero&#x27;s ruling, the private prosecutor defended that offer of testimony. &quot;For something that does not deserve a comment, that&#x27;s quite a lengthy comment,&quot; he also remarked, referring to Sison&#x27;s arguments.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/2/poa-clarifies-ovp-deped-s-audit-query-request-to-coa-1522">Poa clarifies OVP, DepEd’s audit query request to COA</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;TAGISAN NG TALINO&#x27;</strong></div><p>Just minutes into the direct examination, the two lawyers again clashed when Tolosa asked Sison whether or not she was willing to stipulate on the point that Poa is an experienced and highly competent lawyer.</p><p>She instead asked Tolosa whether he was trying to qualify Poa as an expert witness, which allows him to ask hypothetical questions. Poa was <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/2/impeachment-court-declares-poa-as-hostile-witness-1026">declared a hostile witness</a> by the court.</p><p>&quot;Definitely not, those are two very different matters,&quot; Tolosa replied, to which Sison retorted: &quot;Because that is the inference from the proposal to stipulate, Your Honor.&quot;</p><p>Tolosa fired back by saying the defense &quot;cannot dictate&quot; on the prosecution on the nature of testimony of the witness. </p><p>&quot;That discretion falls entirely and exclusively on us if we want to present a witness as an expert witness or ordinary witness,&quot; said Tolosa.</p><p>&quot;He may be the most qualified lawyer but it&#x27;s still our discretion if we want to use him as an expert witness or not,&quot; he said, referring to Poa.</p><p>Escudero told Tolosa that &quot;instead of going through these intramurals, kindly proceed with your direct examination already and go direct to your points.&quot;</p><p>Tolosa doubled down on his arguments but Escudero said: &quot;Again, we&#x27;ve wasted enough time on these intramurals between you and counsel for respondent.&quot;</p><p>The presiding officer at one point addressed the public and fellow senator-judges and asked for patience: &quot;Mahirap na nga po na may dalawang abogadong nagkakaroon ng tagisan ng talino, gawin pa nating tatlo. Kaya pag-unawa lang po at pasensya ang hinihiling namin, parte po ito ng proseso.&quot;</p><p>(It is hard enough when two lawyers compete on their legal knowledge, what more when there are three. So we ask for understanding and patience. This is part of the process.)</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;NO NEED TO PONTIFICATE&#x27;</strong></div><p>Another point of contention cropped up when Tolosa tried to play a clip from a House hearing that Poa attended.</p><p>In rejecting the prosecution&#x27;s move, Sison pointed out that the court would not allow the reading of a third-party statement not of a witness and cited other grounds for objection.</p><p>Tolosa retaliated by saying the defense could not use the opportunity to &quot;pontificate&quot; and argue their position. </p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s too much already,&quot; he said, noting that there was &quot;no need to pontificate and explain your theory of the case&quot; when stating an objection.</p><p>Escudero clapped back at Tolosa and said the private prosecutor &quot;has had his fair share of pontificating. I think you&#x27;re still ahead.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;IBANG KLASENG BAKBAKAN&#x27;</strong></div><p>The House prosecution panel defended Tolosa&#x27;s style in the trial, saying it was part of his legal strategy in direct examining Poa.</p><p>Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, House prosecution spokesperson, said the heated exchanges were helpful in keeping the public engagement in the trial.</p><p>&quot;For this morning we were entertained, all of us, and that’s a fact. It only proved one thing, Atty. Jay Tolosa was really good at what he’s doing. I think it kept you on the edge of our seats,&quot; Adiong said.</p><p>House prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua of Manila, also a lawyer, said the heated arguments were normal in any court hearings.</p><p>&quot;Ngayon nakakakita rin tayo ng ibang klaseng bakbakan naman sa loob ng korte at ito naman talaga ay normal na nangyayari sa court hearing,&quot; he said.</p><p>(Now we are seeing extraordinary clashes at the impeachment court and that is normal in court hearings.)</p><p>Beyond the clashes between the parties, Adiong reminded the public it was important to &quot;keep our eyes on the ball&quot; on Poa’s role in the alleged misuse of the DepEd confidential funds.</p><p>Duterte is facing allegations of misuse, misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds totaling P612.5 million, of which P500 million was for Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million for the DepEd, which she headed from 2022-2024.</p><p>She and her lawyers have rejected the accusations and said they were politically motivated.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/2/prosecution-mulls-dropping-bribery-impeachment-article-to-shorten-trial-1356">Prosecution mulls dropping bribery impeachment article to shorten trial</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS:</strong></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/IvECpuQkItE?&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/uVtoWBoza6U?&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/mSciXX0g8xE?&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/r3N7x1fIMXg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte exchanged fiery remarks as the Senate court opened Wednesday's proceeding with lawyer Michael Poa taking the witness stand.</p>

Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte exchanged fiery remarks as the Senate court opened Wednesday's proceeding with lawyer Michael Poa taking the witness stand.

'Ibang klaseng bakbakan': Impeachment trial heats up with fiery exchanges between defense, prosecution

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'Ibang klaseng bakbakan': Impeachment trial heats up with fiery exchanges between defense, prosecution

Rowegie Abanto,

Allison Co,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 02, 2026 03:01 PM PHT

|

Updated September 02, 2026 03:31 PM PHT

Read More:

Michael Poa

Sara Duterte

Impeachment Trial

Senate Trial

Sara Duterte Trial

Senate

Impeachment

Sheila Sison

Benjamin Tolosa

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