Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte told the Senate impeachment court on Sept. 29 that he would not have allowed his city to award food-service contracts to GenCorp Industries had he known his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte, held an interest in it. The court then declared him a hostile witness.
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Isabelle Pechay, presiding officials found that his "adverse interest" had been established during the 31st day of the trial, which lets prosecutors ask leading questions. The GenCorp dealings form part of Article II of the complaint, covering unexplained wealth and inaccurate asset declarations. The Inquirer reports the vice president listed GenCorp in her 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).
What the mayor said
The Philippine Star (Daphne Galvez and Bella Cariaso) quotes the mayor saying "I would not allow it" about the contracts had he known of his sister's shares, and calling it "virtually impossible" for a mayor to examine every document that crosses his desk. He also maintained, per the Inquirer, that neither "Sara Zimmerman Duterte" nor the surname "Duterte" appears in GenCorp's corporate documents. The Inquirer's day-31 highlights add that he said he first learned of GenCorp during the trial, and did not find it unusual that the company won multiple city contracts.
That last point sits awkwardly with the rest. A company that wins repeatedly and draws no curiosity from the city's chief executive is either unremarkable or unexamined; the mayor's testimony does not say which.
Whose numbers?
The tally itself is contested. The Inquirer quotes the mayor as saying Davao City had "19 transactions with GenCorp worth P33.26 million." The Star reports 19 contracts worth P34.2 million from 2022 to 2026, with 13 completed and paid and six ongoing, while noting that the prosecution cited 15. Our own earlier coverage relied on a lower figure of P14.32 million presented before the trial date; the discrepancies among these totals have not been reconciled in any source we reviewed.
The Star also reports that GenCorp was registered with the SEC in 2020 yet won city contracts starting in 2022, seemingly at odds with a five-year operating history requirement it says the city imposes. It further reports that former China envoy Jaime Tan Cruz is tied to both the vice president and GenCorp through JTC Group of Companies Philippines Inc., which holds a 54.9 percent stake in the firm. The Inquirer says the mayor confirmed business ties with Cruz. Prosecution spokesman Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong argued the undisclosed stake put the mayor "in a precarious position," according to the Inquirer.
What is still unknown
Nothing in the reports establishes that the vice president personally directed any contract or that the city knew of her stake. What they establish is that the contracts were awarded, that the SALNs list the company, and that the mayor says he saw nothing. Who at Davao City's bids and awards level checked a two-year-old company against the city's own rules remains unanswered in the accounts we could read.
Context
The mayor's appearance was postponed from Sept. 22 so the court could first settle the conviction-vote threshold, as we reported. The same day, the Inquirer reports, the court declined to admit the vice president's bank records, upholding protections against self-incrimination in the proceedings. The trial resumes Oct. 1.
Sources
- Philippine Daily Inquirer (Isabelle Pechay), "Impeachment court declares Baste Duterte hostile witness" — https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2313313/impeachment-court-declares-baste-duterte-hostile-witness
- Philippine Daily Inquirer, "Highlights: Day 31 of Sara Duterte impeachment trial (Sept. 29, 2026)" — https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2314019/highlights-day-31-of-sara-duterte-impeachment-trial-sept-29-2026
- The Philippine Star (Daphne Galvez, Bella Cariaso), "Baste: I would have blocked GenCorp deals" — https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/09/30/2559954/baste-i-would-have-blocked-gencorp-deals