Duterte impeachment trial reaches Day 30 as brother Baste and Trillanes are summoned to testify
The Philippine Senate's impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte enters its 30th day on Monday, with her brother Sebastian 'Baste' Duterte expected to testify as a hostile witness and former senator Antonio Trillanes slated to appear on her alleged unexplained wealth.
The Philippine Senate’s impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte reaches its 30th day on Monday, with the prosecution expected to complete the testimony of a procurement official before turning to its most prominent witnesses yet — the vice president’s own brother and her fiercest critic, GMA News reports.
Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte is scheduled to take the stand either today or tomorrow as a hostile witness, and will be questioned about the declared business interests of his sister, whose Davao-listed companies obtained 49 local contracts worth about P35 million, The Philippine Star reports. Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a long-standing Duterte critic, is expected to appear anytime between today and Wednesday on the alleged sources of the Duterte couple’s P6.7 billion recorded wealth.
The court issued fresh subpoenas covering September 28 to 30 for Baste, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. bids committee officer Atty. Gary Samonte, and police firearms records chief Maj. Jerickson Sangalang. Baste’s office has received the summons, though the mayor has denied any awareness of his sister’s alleged link to GenCorp Industries Inc. (GMA News).
The day’s evidence centres on GenCorp, which the vice president listed as a business interest in her 2024 and 2025 statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System chief Rendell Sopeña testified last week that 49 contracts worth a combined P35.878 million were awarded to the company during Duterte’s vice presidency — including 15 Davao City contracts worth P34.217 million — forming the prosecution’s case under Article II’s unexplained-wealth allegation of non-divestment of business interests (Philstar).
Lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro cited Article VII, Section 13 of the Constitution, which bars the vice president from business participation or financial interest in government contracts during her tenure. “The admission came from no less than the respondent herself,” he said of Duterte’s own GenCorp declaration in her SALNs.
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