Baste says Gencorp contracts ‘not allowed’ if Sara was shareholder

Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte told the Senate impeachment court that he would not have engaged in any transactions with Gencorp Industries Incorporated had he known that Vice President Sara Duterte was a stakeholder in the company,

“I would not allow it,” Baste answered when asked about any actions that he would take on procurement contracts if he knew that Sara was a shareholder of Gencorp.

The Davao City mayor answered in a similar vein when given a circumstance wherein his own companies were involved in government contracts.

“As the head of the procuring entity, if you as a mayor have conflict of interest, of course you would not allow the award,” private prosecutor Atty. Theodore Te said.

“Yes sir, yes sir,” Baste expressed.

The exchange came after the mayor was confronted with information that his sister had placed the said company in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) in 2024 and 2025, indicating that she had been a shareholder since 2013.

Baste had affirmed information from the documents that he personally brought to the tribunal wherein it was indicated that Gencorp had engaged in a total of 19 transactions with his office.

It was found, however, through the testimony of Securities and Exchange Commission official Gerardo del Rosario that Sara’s name did not appear in the documents that were submitted by Gencorp.

Baste, for his part, stated that the only time that he had come across with the company was when he was subpoenaed to produce the documents about the transactions by the impeachment court.

The mayor said that the reason that he did not know about Gencorp was because the contracts and documents related to Gencorp were signed by his named representative, Atty. Tristan Dwight Domingo.

Baste said that he had given Domingo a delegated authority to sign such documents on his behalf, but recognized that he would still ultimately be the accountable officers if any documents were flagged.

“You’re aware, Mr. Mayor, that delegating your signing authority to Attorney Domingo does not delegate you accountability as the [head of the procuring entity]...you are still the accountable officer,” private prosecutor Atty. Theodore Te asked.

“Of course. Yes, yes,” Baste answered.

The mayor also confirmed that he had yet to revoke the delegated authority from Domingo.

‘Feign ignorance’

Offering his personal insight into Baste’s testimony, former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV said that such explanations could not simply be taken at face value.

He warned that a claim of ignorance endangered public funds to cases of conflict of interests wherein mayors engaged in government contracts with their siblings.

“If what he is saying is allowed, all of the mayors in the Philippines could secure contracts with their siblings, they will just feign ignorance. So think about that, that was the implication here,” Trillanes said.

The former senator was present at the Senate during Baste’s testimony, noting that he was meant to serve as a substitute had the latter not appeared.

Both Trillanes and Baste were considered by the prosecution panel as witnesses for their case on Article II, concerning the alleged unexplained wealth of the Vice President.

Trillanes is expected to take the witness stand on Wednesday, 30 September, to present information that he had on the alleged joint bank accounts of Sara and former President Rodrigo Duterte and the dealings that the Duterte family had with alleged drug lord Sammy Uy.