A key figure during Vice President Sara Duterte’s time as Secretary of the Department of Education was ordered by the House Committee on Justice to testify in her ongoing impeachment proceedings.

Atty. Michael Poa, who was tagged as a legal counsel for the Vice President, served as DepEd chief of staff from 2022 to 2023.

Poa had been mandated to disclose information regarding Duterte’s alleged misuse of approximately P112.25 million confidential funds that had been allocated for the department under the 2023 budget

The lawyer was quoted in January 2024, stating that the funds had been used to probe the engagement of students in “illegal activities” under terrorist groups.

In earlier proceedings, a solon flagged the inclusion of Poa along with Reynold Munsayac in the defense camp of Duterte, noting that the witnesses may use their “lawyer-client” privilege to evade any questioning by the committee.

“What we don’t want to see would be a situation where these lawyers would basically state that they are bound within ‘lawyer-client privilege’ when the question being asked to them relate to their actual work,” said  Saro Rep. Terry Ridon.

Poa has since said that he was willing to comply with the subpoena after it was approved following a petition from ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio in the Justice panel’s most recent proceeding.