Witness: VP Sara received compensation from Davao City gov't in 2023

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Vice President Sara Duterte received compensation income from the Davao City government in 2023, a witness from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said Thursday.

Lawyer Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez, the chief of staff of BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza, made the testimony during Day 36 of the impeachment trial of the Vice President, at which was presented BIR Form 2316 or the annual income and tax report of the Vice President for year 2023.

“The BIR Form 2316 is a certificate issued by an employer to an employee. This also states how much is the income that the employer gave to the employee and states the withheld tax of the employer to the BIR. Based on this form, the employer’s name [of the Vice President] is the city government of Davao,” said Garcia-Marquez said.

Asked if the said form was signed by individuals and by whom, the BIR official said yes and added that it was signed by "the city accountant of the City Government of Davao, Ms. Vengeline Bahan, at ang employee po ay si VP Sara Duterte po.”

(The employee here is the Vice President).

Asked by private prosecutor Erwin Matib what such documents mean, Garcia-Marquez replied, “Ang ibig sabihin po ay naka-receive po si VP Sara Duterte ng compensation income from the city government of Davao ng taxable year 2023 po.”

(This means the Vice President received a compensation income from the city government of Davao for the taxable year 2023.)

Matib proceeded to ask the BIR official about the reason for Duterte receiving compensation from Davao City while she is Vice President, but defense counsel Kristine Ferrer objected on the ground of incompetence of the witness.

Matib moved on by asking the witness to read Constitutional provisions stating the prohibition on such an act.

These include:

• Section 13, Article 7 which states that “the President, Vice President, the members of the cabinet and their deputies or assistants shall not, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution hold any other office or employment during their tenure” and that “they shall not during said tenure directly or indirectly practice any other profession, participate in any business or be financially interested in any contract with or in any franchise or special privilege granted by the government or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries” and
• Section 6, Article 7 which states that the President and Vice-President “shall not receive during their tenure any other emolument from the Government or any other source.”

The prosecution is presenting evidence to prove Article 2 of the impeachment case against the Vice President amassed unexplained wealth due to alleged failure to truthfully disclose assets in her SALN and failure to divest in businesses as required for the President and Vice President under a Constitutional provision. — BM, GMA News