The Senate impeachment court has recalled the subpoena that would have put Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte on the witness stand this Wednesday, Sept. 23, resetting his appearance — along with two other witnesses — to Sept. 28-30. Presiding Officer and Senate President Francis Escudero announced the change during the trial's Sept. 21 session, three days before Duterte was originally due to explain, under oath, ₱14.32 million in food and catering contracts his sister's company collected from the city government he runs.
The reason for the delay, according to court spokesperson Atty. Reginald Tongol, was simple scheduling: there wasn't enough time to fit Duterte's testimony in before oral arguments begin Wednesday on the disputed formula for convicting Vice President Sara Duterte. "The chair recalls the subpoena issued to Mayor Sebastian Duterte on September 23, and orders the clerk of court to issue the corresponding subpoenas for Mayor Duterte, Atty. Samonte, and Major Sangalang on September 28 to September 30 at 10 in the morning," Escudero said. Tongol added that House prosecutors intend to present Duterte first when hearings resume the week of Sept. 28, "likely on that Monday."
Two other witnesses were reset to the same window: Atty. Gary Samonte, identified as a Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Regional Office XI back-secretariat officer, and Police Maj. Jerickson Sangalang, records chief of the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office. Available reporting on the rescheduling did not explain how either witness connects to the Gencorp allegations against Baste Duterte — an open question the court record does not yet answer.
The underlying allegation hasn't moved. Prosecutors allege that Gencorp Industries, Inc. — a company Vice President Sara Duterte lists as a personal asset — collected food and catering contracts from the Davao City government between 2022 and 2025, the period her brother has served as mayor. The court originally subpoenaed Baste Duterte on Sept. 20 to explain the arrangement under oath. That questioning now waits another week.
The practical effect is that the single most concrete family-business allegation aired so far in the trial — a specific company, a specific dollar figure, a specific set of years — will not be tested on the stand until after the court first resolves whether 16 votes or some lower number is enough to convict the vice president at all. Whether that sequencing was unavoidable, as the court says, or simply convenient for a defense that has spent the trial contesting procedure rather than substance, is a question the schedule itself does not answer.
Context
The reschedule lands in the middle of an already-contested fight over the trial's endgame. Retired Supreme Court Justice Adolfo Azcuna testified before the same court on Sept. 18 that the two-thirds threshold needed to convict Duterte is fixed at 16 votes out of all 24 senators — "all means all," he told the court, regardless of how many senator-judges are actually present to vote. That dispute goes to oral argument this Wednesday, the same conflict that bumped Baste Duterte's appearance. The Gencorp subpoena itself was first reported on Sept. 20, when the court ordered him to explain the contracts a day ahead of what was then expected to be a ruling on the threshold question.
Sources
- Sara Duterte impeachment court resets Baste Duterte subpoena to Sept. 28-30 — GMA News Online
- Impeachment court reschedules Baste Duterte's subpoena to Sept. 28–30 — Journal News Online