Tolosa turns up the heat in the courtroom, sparks hot exchanges

PROSECUTOR. Atty. Jay Tolosa questions hostile witness, Atty. Michael Poa, during Day 21 of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on September 2, 2026.

Senate Social Media Unit

The public saw another side of Jay Tolosa in his impeachment court debut. It was a departure from his usual soft-spoken self in media interviews as spokesman of the prosecution.

Lawyer Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr. is known by House reporters as the soft-spoken, mild-mannered legal spokesperson of the prosecution panel.

So it was a rather surprising turn to see the seasoned lawyer raise his voice, confront the witness, and argue with the defense team — and sometimes even with the presiding officer — on the 21st day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial.

Did he come in too hot?

Wednesday’s trial proceeding was not an ordinary day, and even the defense team knew it.

With the prosecution scheduled to call defense lawyer Michael Poa to the stand as a hostile witness, the defense team brought out its lead lawyer Sheila Sison to counter Tolosa’s line of questioning.

Tolosa came in with guns blazing, calling Poa an “abogadong walang alam (lawyer who does not know anything).” Sison took offense at Tolosa’s offer of testimony, and asked him to use a more professional language such as a “witness with no knowledge.” (But… isn’t that just almost the English equivalent of what Tolosa said?)

Escudero sided with Sison and agreed to strike the comments from the records, although it was only the first of many clashes between the two lawyers that day.

Later, Tolosa tried to offer stipulations on Poa’s competence to expedite the proceedings, which Sison found unnecessary. Escudero said he found the stipulations irrelevant and asked Tolosa to move on “instead of going through these intramurals.”

Sison also challenged the prosecution’s effort to “read third-party statements” of Poa, and objected to Tolosa’s line of questioning on the basis of non-sequitur.

“This is not an opportunity that should be used by defense to pontificate, argue their position. That’s too much already. Under the rules, if you’re objecting to my question, just state the objection, no need to pontificate your theory of the case,” Tolosa remarked.

“The prosecution has had its fair share of pontificating, I think you are still ahead,” Escudero replied.

Pro-impeachment advocates who are rooting for the prosecution may have been disoriented by Tolosa’s litigation style, which is a stark contrast to how previous prosecutors — lawmakers Jinky Luistro and Joel Chua, as well as private prosecutors Mae Divinagracia, Lorna Kapunan, and Virgil Ligutan — handled past witnesses.

“No two lawyers are alike. Each has its own style. At the end of the day, the question is: did he deliver?” Ligutan said. “It is understandable that Attorney Tolosa’s style (would result) in a heated, tension-filled session.”

“One lawyer can bring tension, what more if two? And take note, the witness is also a lawyer…and a hostile witness,” Ligutan added. “It’s the perfect recipe for tension.”

Tolosa had the most dead airs out of all lawyers who have appeared before the court so far (it took him a moment to sort his notes numerous times), and seemed to have the tendency to not move on quickly (he asked Escudero to “reconsider” a ruling he had made, prompting the presiding officer to say there’s no such thing).

But the prosecution’s spokesman also seemed to have found his footing after lunch, and was even able to extract from Poa a confirmation that he prepared DepEd’s defense before the Commission on Audit on the department’s confidential spending despite being unaware that there was a security officer who handled the secret funds.

Tolosa has an impressive portfolio: he lawyered for American soldier Joseph Pemberton, who was convicted of homicide in the killing of Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude. His other clients include some of the country’s biggest mining companies, flag carrier Philippine Airlines, and the local affiliate of Fortune 500 company Philip Morris International.

His legal background indicates this is not the first time he participated in — or maybe even caused — a heated courtroom proceeding.

“It’s nothing personal. We’re just doing our jobs,” Tolosa said after Wednesday’s trial. – Rappler.com