MICHAEL Poa, spokesman of the legal team of Vice President Sara Duterte, denied that the vice president threw a laptop at him due to frustrations over her impeachment case.
”Fake news. Creative but completely false,” Poa said in a statement sent to The Manila Times.
Lorna Kapunan, one of the most vocal critics of Duterte, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that trolls were claiming that Poa was hit on the head by the laptop.
Another lawyer, Jesus Falcis, was quoted saying: “If Sara Duterte’s defense is weak on both the facts and the law, throw a laptop on your lawyer or pound on the table.” Poa belied the claims, noting that while Duterte is decisive in her actions, he never saw her temper flare during the time he worked with her at the Department of Education.
Duterte has yet to comment on the issue.
The vice president is currently at The Hague to visit her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is awaiting trial before the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity connected to his drug war.
Duterte said that she does not want to talk about her case, noting her father does not want to hear bad news from her.
”I didn’t mention the impeachment to him, and I didn’t mention what happened in the House of Representatives. So he does not know that there is a second possible impeachment happening. I think he doesn’t need to know that kind of bad news anymore, because it wouldn’t have any value to him anyway,” Duterte said in Filipino, speaking to supporters outside the Scheveningen prison at The Hague after visiting her father on Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning Manila time).
”Filipinos need to learn — they need to learn how to discern what they see on social media, particularly because the information appearing there can be manipulated,” Duterte said.
She said it is “unfair” for her critics to involve her family with her impeachment case, stressing that the spouses and children of lawmakers have the right to privacy.
”Well, I think it’s unfair because they aren’t the vice president, and they aren’t being impeached. And just like the spouses and children of congressmen, they have the right to privacy, being ordinary individuals and private citizens,” Duterte said.
