VP Sara Duterte’s Impeachment: Poa Expunges Kapunan’s “Scam” Claim

Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense counsel, Attorney Michael Westley Poa, and private prosecutor Attorney Lorna Kapunan.

VP Sara Duterte’s Impeachment: Poa Expunges Kapunan’s “Scam” Claim

By Bing Jabadan — TheNATIONWEEK.com | August 5, 2026

MANILA — The confidential funds at the center of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment were allocated for surveillance of student recruitment by the New People’s Army—a crucial national security objective. However, the prosecution, aligned with the Makabayan bloc and the leftist party-list groups, has dismissed this mission and labeled the expenditure a “scam.” Defense counsel Atty. Michael Poa successfully objected, compelling the court to strike the remark as improper. This incident highlights a stark reality: one official faces relentless scrutiny over P612.5 million, while trillions disappear into ghost projects under the very administration pressing the charges.

The confrontation unfolded on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 (Day 13 of impeachment). Private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan, questioning former COA Auditor Atty. Roderick Wamil, referred to the unaccounted funds as a “scam”—a characterization Poa immediately challenged as “out of order.” Presiding Officer Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero sustained the objection and ordered the remark expunged. Outside the chamber, Kapunan reiterated: “The people were scammed. That scam is worth P612 million.”

Wamil confirmed that the Office of the Vice President received P500 million and the Department of Education P112.5 million. The COA found insufficient documentation for expenditures in the first half of 2023. Medical aid, food assistance, incentives, and travel costs may fall outside authorized uses under Joint Circular No. 2015-01. For DepEd’s portion, no school, student, community, threat, or operation could be identified behind broadly described programs. No intelligence results were presented to justify reward payments.

“Where secrecy is the mission, standard receipts cannot always be produced without endangering lives and sources.”

The prosecution overlooks the funds’ true purpose: to monitor and counter rebel recruitment within schools—a function inherently requiring secrecy. Standard receipts cannot always be produced without compromising operations and lives. The Makabayan-aligned prosecution treats necessary operational discretion as proof of corruption.

This selective zeal sharply contrasts with the administration’s indifference toward far larger corruption. Ghost flood control projects, phantom infrastructure, and systemic kickbacks have cost the nation trillions—yet no comparable urgency attends those investigations. Kleptocrats and kakistocrats remain protected, their names unmentioned, their fortunes untouched. The public perceives the imbalance: P612 million is prosecuted with every resource, while trillions are quietly stolen.

Poa’s objection was not merely procedural; it was a defense of fairness. Justice cannot be one-sided. If every peso of Duterte’s funds demands scrutiny, then every peso lost to ghost projects demands tenfold more. The stricken word “scam” belongs not to anti-rebel surveillance, but to the reality that the powerful plunder with impunity while a public servant acting in national security is singled out for political destruction.

“Justice cannot be one-sided. Accountability must apply equally to the powerful and the targeted.”

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