DAVAO City Mayor Sebastian Duterte is set to appear before the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday after he asked for more time to gather and prepare documents covered by a subpoena issued to him.
On the 30th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Senate Presiding Officer Francis Escudero said the mayor, known by his nickname “Baste,” requested time to “gather, organize, authenticate and reproduce” the subpoenaed documents.
Duterte also asked to testify on Tuesday and Wednesday instead of Monday to allow him to comply with the subpoena.
“The presiding officer grants the request of Mayor Duterte to appear tomorrow and Wednesday, which again is covered by the subpoena already issued. So there is no need to issue another subpoena,” Escudero said.
The subpoena requires Duterte to bring Davao City government records involving GenCorp Industries Inc. and corporations operating Jollibee branches from 2020 to the present.
GenCorp has figured prominently in the trial after Vice President Duterte identified the company as a business interest in her 2024 and 2025 statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).
Prosecution evidence showed that GenCorp, which operates the Jollibee Bolton franchise, secured about P34.2 million from 15 government contracts with the Davao City government.
The contracts were among 49 food service deals awarded by government offices in the Davao region, according to prosecution witness Rendell Sopeña, chief of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System’s Electronic Government Procurement Operations Division.
Sebastian Duterte has said he was unaware of his sister’s financial interest in GenCorp, noting that neither “Sara Zimmerman Duterte” nor the Duterte surname appears in the company’s registration papers, articles of incorporation or board rosters.
Private prosecutors have disputed his claim, arguing that as head of the procuring entity, the mayor should have been aware of the background of contractors doing business with City Hall.
Meanwhile, the prosecution dropped lawyer Gary Samonte, secretariat head of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Regional Office XI Bids and Awards Committee, from its official witness list as the panel adjusted its strategy for the week.
