INDAY got P64K back pay as VP

A Davao City accountant told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday that Vice President Sara Duterte received P64,194.72 in salary differentials from the local government in 2023, when she was already serving as the country’s second-in-command.

Vingelin Bajan said the amount was delayed salary differentials for Duterte, then city mayor, but only covered her last two years, 2020 and 2021.

“We had a Salary Standardization Law in 2019, with annual tranche increases,” Bajan said.

Asked by defense counsel Lindon Bacquel whom the increase covered, she answered, “All government employees.”

The amount was allegedly divided into two tranches: P31,718.64 in 2020 and P32,476.08 in 2021.

Bajan said all Davao LGU employees also received their salary differentials, though some were deprived of it because of “incomplete documents.”

Bajan was called by the defense to testify on the prosecution’s allegations that Duterte received double compensation from the government, in violation of the Constitution.

A Bureau of Internal Revenue official earlier testified that Duterte received compensation from the Davao LGU in 2023, though the amount was not disclosed, citing confidentiality.

The prosecution argued that the period overlaps with Duterte’s tenure as vice president, accusing her of violating Article VII, Section 6 of the Constitution, which prohibits the VP, along with the President, from receiving additional emoluments from the government while in office.

Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia pressed Bajan on procedural delays, noting that the Davao LGU delayed implementing the salary adjustments by one to two years after the law’s passage.

She pointed out that the LGU processed the disbursement voucher only on 30 December 2022 and released it in January 2023, by which time Duterte was already vice president and the city was under her brother, Mayor Sebastian Duterte.

She also questioned the handwritten corrections to the voucher, particularly the cancellation of an entry referring to January 2022 and its replacement with the 2020 and 2021 salary periods, raising questions about whether the entries were only made recently.

Bajan countered that the corrections were made as early as during the voucher’s evaluation, noting that the city assistant accountant countersigned them.

Similarly, she claimed payment was released only after the supporting documents were completed, blaming the delay on the City Mayor’s Office.

Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo, however, described the explanation as “very difficult to believe,” noting that the VP was still the mayor at the time.

“It took a few years before VP Sara was paid. Secondly, as you know, she cannot receive double compensation while serving as Vice President,” Tulfo stressed.

“There are also several erasures here. For all we know, these could have been made after you found out about the impeachment,” he pointed out.

Divinagracia cast doubt on Bajan’s credibility, citing her personal ties to the VP.

Bajan joined the Davao LGU in 2001 as a job order (contractual) employee before becoming a permanent employee in 2004.

She was appointed city accountant in 2016 during Sara’s mayoral term.

After a lengthy interrogation and a threat of possible contempt, Bajan admitted she was formerly a partner at the accounting firm that audited Sara-linked firms, such as GenCorp Industries Inc., Metro City Chow Foods Corp., and Great Jolly Times Food Corp., among others.

She withdrew from the accounting firm — formerly named Ampil, Elises, Ciudadano & Co., now Elises & Ciudadano — in 2015, just a year before she was appointed as Davao City accountant.