Davao City Mayor Sebastian 'Baste' Duterte appears before the Senate impeachment court as a witness to the trial against his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte, September 29, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte testified before the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday that he was unaware his sister had declared a business interest in GenCorp Industries Inc., adding he would not have allowed the city government to award contracts to the company if he was.
GenCorp has come under scrutiny for being one of the companies declared in Vice President Sara Duterte's Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in 2024 and 2025, listing herself as stockholder even after assuming the vice presidency in 2022.
But the food services company secured at least 15 contracts with the Davao City government from 2022, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest.
During direct examination by prosecution counsel Theodore Te, Duterte said he only heard of GenCorp when issues surrounding the company were raised before the impeachment court.
"Just to clarify, sir, your knowledge of GenCorp Industries Inc. is limited to the references to GenCorp in this court?" Te asked.
"Yes," replied Duterte, who had been declared a hostile witness due to his adverse interest in the prosecution's case, allowing Te to ask him leading questions.
"You are therefore not familiar, Mr. Witness, that your sister, the vice president, has actually declared an interest in GenCorp?" Te said.
"No," Duterte responded.
'NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY'
Later during cross-examination, defense lawyer Justin Nichol Gular asked why Duterte had no knowledge of his sister's business interests, including those declared in her SALN.
"We simply do not discuss these. It's her privacy," he said. "It's not my responsibility to know this."
While Duterte serves as the head of the procuring entity for the Davao City government, he authorized lawyer Tristan Dwight Domingo to handle procurement matters on his behalf.
The mayor also said the city's Bids and Awards Committee, rather than he himself, conducted what he described in a September 21 statement as a "rigorous evaluation" of GenCorp.
Duterte also clarified that the city government had awarded 19 contracts to GenCorp, four more than the 15 cited by a witness from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), which maintains a database of government procurement transactions.
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Te later said 15 of the procurement documents Duterte submitted to the court matched those from PhilGEPS, while, as Gular put it, "there was no testimony in respect to four transactions."
The city government awarded GenCorp contracts to provide food services from 2022 to 2025, Duterte said.
When questioned by presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero, Duterte confirmed that he had neither seen nor was he familiar with his sister's SALNs, reiterating that he was unaware she had declared links to GenCorp in the document.
Escudero also asked: "Kung siya po ay stockholder ng GenCorp at nalalaman ninyo, hindi niyo papayagan ma-award-an ng kontrata sa Davao?".
"I would not allow it," Mayor Duterte said.
Despite Vice President Duterte's declaration in her SALN, a Securities and Exchange Commission official earlier testified that she was not listed as an incorporator, director or stockholder of GenCorp in the company’s corporate records with the agency.
Under Section 13, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, the president and vice president are prohibited from participating in any business or having a financial interest in any contract with the government or any of its subdivisions or agencies to avoid conflicts of interest.
The impeachment court is hearing allegations that Vice President Duterte amassed unexplained wealth, failed to fully disclose her assets and failed to divest her business interests while serving as vice president.
The allegations form one of four Articles of Impeachment against Duterte. The other articles accuse her of threatening President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family, misusing or misappropriating confidential funds, and bribing government officials. — With a report from Victoria Tulad, ABS-CBN News
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