Poa: Defense objections part of normal court proceedings

Lawyer Michael Poa, a member of Vice President Sara Duterte's legal team, said Tuesday that it was only natural for the defense to raise objections during the impeachment trial, despite many of them being overruled by the Senate impeachment court.

"Natural lang na may ganiyang objections. Siyempre, we want to put on record yung aming mga objections, specifically on documents they're presenting," Poa said in an interview after the second day of the impeachment proceedings.

(It is only natural to have such objections. Of course, we want our objections on the documents they are presenting to be part of the record.)

"Whether an objection is sustained or overruled—we've all seen how it works in court. If it is sustained, the court agrees with us; if it is overruled, it does not. Either way, what is important is that our objections are on record," he added.

During the second day of the impeachment trial, the House prosecution panel presented as evidence a video of Duterte's November 2024 press conference in which she made remarks about President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Throughout the presentation, defense counsel Carlo Joaquin Narvasa repeatedly objected, arguing that several of the prosecution's questions were leading or misleading.

According to Poa, objections are generally raised during the formal offer of documentary evidence, but the defense deemed it necessary to raise its objections during the presentation to preserve them on the record.

"The general rule is that objections are made during the formal offer of documents. But the defense feels it is really important for us to put these matters on record, especially because in our answer we raised these issues.

Poa said the defense's objections were also anchored on its earlier motion to exclude documents that it argues should not be admitted as evidence.

"That's why we filed a motion to exclude some documents that we believe should not be considered because they were not attached to the original impeachment complaint. Others also cover periods when the Vice President was not yet an impeachable officer," he said.

"We are just putting matters on record," Poa added. — MCG, GMA News