Baste Duterte testifies at VP Sara impeachment trial - Rappler
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HOSTILE WITNESS. Davao City Mayor Sebastian 'Baste' Duterte takes the witness stand on Day 31 of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on September 29, 2026.
MANILA, Philippines – Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte arrived at the Senate on Tuesday, September 29, to testify at the impeachment trial of his older sister, Vice President Sara Duterte.
Baste arrived past 9 am and was brought to the holding room for witnesses while awaiting the start of the trial at 10 am.
The mayor, the prosecution’s hostile witness, was earlier subpoenaed to appear before the court from Monday, September 28, to Wednesday, September 30, 2026. He asked the court on Monday to allow him to appear at the trial on Tuesday or Wednesday, which the court granted.
The prosecution had requested the issuance of a subpoena to the Davao mayor in connection with the contracts of the Davao City government with Gencorp, which is linked to the Vice President.
Rappler earlier published an exclusive report detailing how Gencorp cornered P15 million in food and catering contracts from the PhilHealth Davao Regional Office and Davao City Hall between 2022 and 2025.
The Vice President declared in her 2024 and 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) that she has been a stockholder of Gencorp since 2013, but her name is not in the filings of the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was elected vice president in 2022.
The younger Duterte was not initially identified as a witness by the prosecution team in its pre-trial brief, although it is not precluded from asking him to testify as among the unnamed, reserve witnesses. This changed after it was found that the Davao City government had contracts with Gencorp.
Baste himself had confirmed that Gencorps got at least 19 contracts with Davao City Hall worth P33.26 million — more than twice the amount earlier reported — and that these were all aboveboard. He had also claimed that he did not know of any Gencorps links to his sister.
When asked to comment on the arrival of Baste at the Senate for the trial on Tuesday, private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said: “Ang masasabi ko sa kanya, have a nice day. Marami kaming itatanong są kanya at marami siyang i-e-explain.” (What I can say to him is, have a nice day. We have many questions to ask him and he has a lot of explaining to do.)
Kapunan said Baste’s compliance with the subpoena didn’t come as a surprise, considering the evidence that the prosecution had presented in connection with Davao City Hall’s contracts with Gencorp.
“As mayor, he’s head of the procurement agency. Hindi niya puwedeng sabihin na hindi niya alam kung sino ang may-ari ng Gencorps kasi part ng due diligence ‘yan (He can’t say that he doesn’t know who owns Gencorp because that is part of due diligence),” she said. – With reports from Sundy Locus, Dwight de Leon/Rappler.com
