Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte was declared a hostile witness by the impeachment court Tuesday, giving prosecutors greater leeway to use leading questions in his testimony against his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte.

The ruling came after prosecutor Theodore Te confronted Duterte with a Facebook statement in which the mayor accused the impeachment court of “preventing the vice president” from running in the 2028 elections.

“As of now, I do not remember any statement pertaining to the impeachment trials,” Duterte told Te when asked whether he had discussed the proceedings in previous media interviews.

Te then showed Duterte a screenshot of a statement posted on his Facebook page, accusing the court of preventing the Vice President from running in 2028. Duterte confirmed that it was his statement.

The exchange prompted Te to seek Duterte’s designation as a hostile witness, a move opposed by defense counsel Justin Nicol Gular.

Gular argued that Duterte’s political statements did not establish hostility toward the impeachment court and that the prosecution had not shown that he was unwilling to testify.

“Political statements do not establish hostility towards this court and there was no hostile statement made by the witness towards this court,” Gular said.

“Clearly, Your Honor, none of the qualifications for a witness to be declared as hostile has been established by the preliminary questions of counsel for the prosecution,” he added.

Te maintained that the prosecution had established the basis for treating Duterte as hostile and left the matter to the court.

Presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero ultimately ruled that Duterte’s “adverse interest” had been established and declared him a hostile witness.

Escudero also clarified that Rule 18 did not apply to Duterte when he made his 22 September statement because he was not yet a witness before the impeachment court at that time. The rule applies to statements Duterte makes before the court in his capacity as a witness.

The prosecution is presenting Duterte to establish that the Davao City government awarded Gen Corp Industries Inc. 15 food and catering contracts worth P34.2169 million from 2022 to 2025.

They also intend to ask him to confirm details in an extrajudicial statement he issued on Sept. 22, including his knowledge of Jaime T. Cruz, whom prosecutors identified as a major Gen Corp stockholder and Duterte’s co-stakeholder in another corporation.