Davao Mayor Baste Duterte takes witness stand on Day 31 of trial

Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte takes the witness stand on Tuesday, Day 31 of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, on 29 September 2026. His testimony is expected to focus on Davao City government transactions with GenCorp Industries Inc., a company Sara Duterte declared as a business interest in her 2024 and 2025 statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs). The mayor's appearance was moved from Monday to give him more time to gather and authenticate documents covered by a subpoena.rappler.com+1

The trial matters because Sara Duterte is the first Philippine public official to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. Four articles of impeachment charge her with alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery of Department of Education officials, and grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family. The GenCorp testimony adds a procurement line to an unexplained-wealth case that already includes gun records and bank records sought by House prosecutor Chel Diokno.rappler.com

What the Day 31 witness will address

PhilGEPS Division Chief Rendell Sopeña testified on Monday that Davao City awarded 15 contracts to GenCorp, part of 49 food service deals awarded to the company by government offices in the Davao Region. Of those 15 contracts, 11 did not undergo public bidding and were awarded through negotiated small-value procurement; four went through bidding. The figures give the court a concrete count of how a company Sara Duterte listed in her SALNs received Davao City work.

The mechanism the prosecution is testing is straightforward: a declared business interest in GenCorp sits alongside city contracts to the same company, and 11 of 15 of those contracts skipped open bidding. Negotiated small-value procurement is a route that avoids competitive bidding. The prosecution wants the court to weigh whether the pattern of awards, and any benefit flowing back to the Vice President, supports the unexplained-wealth article.

The impeachment court may also act on show-cause orders involving alleged violations of the sub judice rule — the restriction on public comment about a case under trial — by House prosecutor Terry Ridon and prosecution counsel Benjamin Tolosa. The court has already issued a stern warning to Ridon over statements he made in a media interview. Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri declared himself pro-gun at open court on Monday, 28 September.

Where the GenCorp contract numbers came from

The gun evidence drew open scepticism from senator-judges. Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo described the offer of testimony on Duterte's guns as a "waste of time." Police Major Joericson Sangalang of the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office testified that Sara Duterte and her husband Mans Carpio own more than 50 guns with a market value of over P7 million. Sangalang said the law sets no limit on how many firearms a person may own, except for Type A firearms.

Sangalang enumerated 29 firearms registered to Mans Carpio: 16 pistols, two revolvers, one shotgun, ten rifles, and one expired firearm. The pair hold 51 registered firearms in total, 22 registered to Duterte herself, with no PNP records indicating these were donations. Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said the issue is a pattern of undeclared assets rather than the P7-million value, arguing that a SALN certifies under oath that the listed assets are all a person owns.

The gun records dispute in court

The legal dispute turns on timing. Prosecutor Bel Zamora argued that Section 32 of the 2025 omnibus SALN rules requires individual declaration of firearms. Defense lawyer Carlo Narvasa countered that the 2025 Civil Service Commission rules "do not have application to the SALNs of the Vice President as those will be applicable only for submission beginning 2026." The 2025 rules consolidate and replace five previous resolutions, including a 2013 resolution that did not explicitly require firearms to be itemised.

Prosecutor Terry Ridon cited precedent: customs official Recaflor de Leon was suspended without pay by the Ombudsman in 2015 for failing to declare three licensed firearms from 2003 to 2011. In 2018, the Ombudsman charged former police chief Alan Purisima with perjury before the Sandiganbayan over undisclosed firearms from 2011 to 2012, and indicted former Marantao mayor Mohammadali Abboh Abinal for not disclosing firearms and vehicles from 2007 to 2012.

The trial began at 2 pm on Monday, July 6, and Day 30 concluded on Monday, September 28, 2026, with press briefings from the House prosecution team and Duterte's lawyer Michael Poa. Only 21 of 24 senator-judges are physically present: Senator Bato dela Rosa remains in hiding over an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, Senator Jinggoy Estrada has been detained and suspended in a plunder case, and Senator Rodante Marcoleta surrendered to authorities over a plunder case.

The National Bureau of Investigation plans to invite Vice President Sara Duterte, former Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and others implicated by a dismissed policeman for questioning about an alleged bagman. The impeachment court's ruling on the show-cause orders involving Ridon and Tolosa may also be announced during Tuesday's session, alongside the mayor's testimony on Davao City's GenCorp transactions.