The appearance of no less than the Vice President’s brother before the Court became the highlight of the week.
Here is a quick rundown of this week in the Impeachment Trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
On the 30th day of the trial, om September 28 (Monday) Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) Chief of the Electronic Government Procurement Operations Division (EGPOD) Rendell Sopeña returned to the witness stand to answer the cross-examination of the defense on his earlier testimony.
Specifically, Sopeña was the witness on the stand when the companies linked to the Vice President and her husband, Second Gentleman Atty. Mans Carpio, were scrutinized, with some supposedly bagging contracts from the Davao City local government unit (LGU).
He also said that out of the 15 contracts between the Davao City LGU and GenCorp Industries, Inc., 11 did not go through public bidding, which amount to about PHP7 million to PHP8 million.
Before that, he also said that there were corresponding awarded documents for indicated contracts, with him also confirming that the transactions was uploaded in PHILGEPS database.
After him, Police Major Joericson Sangalang of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosives Office was called to the witness stand to testify regarding registered firearms.
But that was momentarily called out by Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo, who noted that he does not see the relevance of the witness to the article at hand, which is unexplained wealth.
In response, House Prosecutor Rep. Ysabel Zamora cited Section 34 of the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth, whereas personal properties like vehicles and firearms must be declared individually.
In the abbreviated presentation of the witnesd, the Prosecution showed 22 firearms registered to the Vice President and 29 the Second Gentleman, including one Class A like weapon, with the market valuations of the firearms seeing it at over PHP7.2 million combined, .
The following day, on the 31st day, incumbent Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, brother of the VP, was presented as the witness. He was later declared a “hostile witness” following his remarks or perception of the court.
The local chief executive said that he is not familiar with GenCorp Industries, Inc., as well as his sister’s interest in the company. But he confirmed that Davao City entered into contracts with GenCorp to supply food services from 2022 to 2025.
Mayor Duterte, who also sits as the Head of Procuring Entity (HOPE) for Davao City, said that he did not personally scrutinized all documents of the company and their contracts with the LGU.
The incumbent local chief executive also said that he would not have approved a contract with GenCorp if he was aware that VP Duterte was a stockholder or shareholder of the company.
The court also agreed that as Mayor, Duterte may not have any personal knowledge on what the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) does.
Meanwhile, on the 32nd day, Atty. Kathy Florence Baldonado, Register of Deeds of Davao City, became the first witness of the day. She was later followed by Atty. Marco Pineda, Deputy Register of Deeds of Samal, Davao del Norte.
Together, they testified as properties of the Vice President and Second Gentleman became the subject of the day, including one in Matina Crossing, Davao and Island City of Samal in Davao del Norte.
Meanwhile, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was initially set to take the stand, withdrew himself as witness.
The Impeachment Trial will resume on Monday, October 5 at 10:00 am.
