Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. said he believes the House prosecution team can extract new information from Atty. Michael Poa, a former spokesperson of Vice President Sara Duterte, when he takes the witness stand in the impeachment trial.
Abante said he is confident in the litigation skills of the prosecution team particularly one of its lawyers whom he described as “magaling” and “matapang.”
“Baka, palagay ko. And belib ako sa prosecution team namin. Magaling sila,” Abante said in an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel’s At The Forefront with Atty. Karen Jimeno.
“Especially yung isang abogado rin na kahawig mo din. Magaling, matapang,” he added and was referring to Atty. Mae S. Divinagracia.
Abante said he believes the prosecution team could uncover information from Poa that had not previously been discussed during congressional hearings.
“And so, sabi ko, I think that the prosecution team would be able to discover something that has not been talked before,” he said.
Poa had previously been invited to appear as a resource speaker during the House committee on good government’s hearings, where he denied having knowledge of or involvement in any bribery.
“I remember what he said, that he’s not in any way involved in any kind of bribery. He does not know what’s going on,” Abante said.
Abante, however, said he found it difficult to believe that Poa knew nothing about matters involving the Office of the Vice President considering his lengthy stint as its spokesperson.
“But the thing is, it is hard to believe for me personally,” he said.
“Well, because he’s a spokesperson. If you’re the spokesperson, you know what’s happening. To be the spokesperson, you should know what’s happening,” Abante added.
Still, Abante acknowledged that Poa may not have been privy to every detail concerning the use of confidential funds.
“I would understand that he does not know everything about what has happened or how the confidential was spent,” he said.
“But at least he knows something about that. He cannot actually say, na, I know nothing about it. He would know something about it,” Abante added.
Abante said Poa’s long association with Duterte could make his testimony significant by noting that Poa had served as spokesperson since Duterte was still Secretary of Education and later joined the Vice President’s office.
“He would know something about what has happened in the Office of the Vice President, being there for a good number of years,” Abante said.
“He’s kind of closer to the Vice President also. Close siya as the Vice President,” he added.
Abante endorsed one of the impeachment complaints against Duterte and previously participated in congressional proceedings related to the case.#