Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team will seek to demonstrate during her impeachment trial that the public image being projected of her does not reflect her true character, according to defense spokesperson Michael Poa.
Poa said Duterte “has never been violent” in the years he has worked with her, disputing claims that she once threw a laptop at him.
“Nasabi nga noong minsan, nabato ako ng laptop, that’s not true, totally not true. Hindi ako nabato ng laptop or anything,” Poa said.
“I’ve never seen her do that. She’s never been violent. She’s never even raised her voice at me,” he added.
Having worked with Duterte since 2022, Poa described the Vice President as decisive and clear about what she wants.
“To be honest, I’ve never seen any outburst or outrage,” he said, adding that if critics considered her controversial November 2024 online press conference an outburst, her lawyers would present the circumstances surrounding it.
“It’s not her character. That’s something we need to successfully show to the public,” Poa said.
“In a way, we have to show that what she is being portrayed as is actually not what she is.”
The impeachment complaint accuses Duterte of committing grave threats after she said during the November 2024 online briefing that she had arranged for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be killed if she were assassinated first.
Poa maintained that the statement should be viewed in its full context.
“Sa amin, hindi pa naman talaga na-establish na banta yung nangyari. I always say we cannot deny the utterance… But it’s really more of the context,” he said.
He added that whether the remarks constitute an impeachable offense is ultimately for the senator-judges to decide.
“For us, that doesn’t rise to the level of an impeachable offense, but that is a political question because it depends on how the senator-judges appreciate the evidence,” Poa said.
Poa also addressed the 2011 incident in which Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, punched a sheriff during a demolition operation. The footage was presented this week during the testimony of National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag, who cited it as part of what the NBI described as a “pattern of violence.”
Poa argued that the incident should likewise be viewed in context, pointing to Sen. Christopher Go’s account that the demolition involved 217 families displaced after a flash flood that claimed 31 lives. According to Go, Duterte had appealed to the sheriff to postpone the demolition because the affected families had nowhere to relocate.
He also noted that the Supreme Court has defined impeachable offenses as acts or omissions committed while an official occupies an impeachable position.
“Noong mga panahon na yun, hindi pa naman siya impeachable officer,” Poa said.
“We don’t want to discount that, but the surrounding circumstances behind those incidents should also be considered,” he added.
