Baste Duterte says he only heard of GenCorp during impeach trial

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte has claimed that he only knew of Gencorp Industries Incorporated because it was mentioned before the impeachment trial against his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte — even if the company had entered into contracts with the local government.

During the resumption of the impeachment trial on Tuesday, Mayor Duterte — whom the prosecution presented as a hostile witness — was asked by prosecution counsel Theodore Te whether he knew about the company, since he mentioned it in a previous social media post.

But the local chief executive said he only knew about it when the matter was raised before the impeachment court.

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“Now Mr. Mayor, in your statement (on) September 21 which was shown to you earlier, you alluded to a company called Gencorp Industries Incorporated.  Is that just right?” Te asked, which Mayor Duterte answered in the affirmative.  “And so you are familiar with this corporation called Gencorp Industries Incorporated?”

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“When it has been raised in this court, but before that, no,” Mayor Duterte replied.

Te later asked whether Mayor Duterte was unaware of the company’s existence even though his sister, Vice President Duterte, had listed the company in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) as one of her business interests.

“Your reference to […] your familiarity with Gencorp Industries Incorporated is only by reason of the reference here in the impeachment court […] You are therefore not familiar, Mr. Witness, that your sister, the Vice President, has actually declared an interest with Gencorp, you’re not familiar with that?” Te asked.

“No,” Mayor Duterte said.

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“You’re not familiar, having heard the proceedings in the impeachment court, that she has declared Gencorp twice in her SALNs for 2024 and 2025; you’re not familiar with that, sir?” Te asked again, and Duterte also said no.

The social media post Te referred to was a Facebook update by Mayor Duterte on September 21, in which he said he was unaware that Vice President Duterte had an interest in Gencorp.

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Despite this, Mayor Duterte maintained that contracts between the corporation and the City of Davao are all “above board.”

Mayor Duterte also clarified that instead of the reportedly P14.3 million transactions made by Davao City with Gencorp, the true value was at P33.2 million, equivalent to a total of 19 contracts.

Of the 19, 13 were already finished while six were still ongoing, the mayor said.

“I, and all other officials and employees of the City Government of Davao, never had any knowledge of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte holding an interest in GenCorp Industries Inc,” Mayor Duterte said.

“Furthermore, neither the name Sara Zimmerman Duterte nor the surname “Duterte” appears in any of the official documents, such as, among others, the Articles of Incorporation, submitted by GenCorp Industries Inc. across the 19 contracts and transactions in question,” he added.

READ: Baste Duterte ‘unaware’ sister Sara holds interest in GenCorp Industries

Te then tried to quiz Mayor Duterte on whether he is still unaware that Gencorp was part of Vice President Duterte’s SALN, even though it was mentioned in the same breath as the company during the impeachment trial.  Defense lawyer Justin Nicol Gular objected by saying that it is argumentative, which Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero sustained.

Te also asked Mayor Duterte if he could identify where Gencorp is stated under Vice President Duterte’s SALN — which Gular objected, as Mayor Duterte was not competent to authenticate the document of another individual

However, Mayor Duterte still responded, saying “of course not.”

Mayor Duterte was called as a witness in order for him to shed light into the contracts entered by the Davao City local government with Gencorp.  The prosecution claims the contracts are anomalous because Vice President Duterte declared a financial interest in Gencorp—even though corporate records show she was not listed as a shareholder.

READ: Defense must explain Sara Duterte’s Gencorp interest – Tolosa

During the trial on Monday, Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) chief Rendell Sopeña said only four of the 15 food service contracts Davao City awarded to Gencorp went through public bidding.

READ: ‘4 of 15 Davao City deals with VP-linked firm went through bidding’

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The rest, according to Sopeña, were awarded  to GenCorp “through negotiated small-value procurement.” /jpv