Palace: Mayors, including Baste Duterte, should know about approved gov't contracts

Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, like any other local chief executive, should not be ignorant of government contracts involving his office or his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Wednesday.

“How long has he been a mayor and how does he evaluate the contracts he is signing? Magiging delikado ito kung gagawin din ito ng ibang mga mayor para sabihin, ‘Hindi ko alam na kapatid ko pala ‘yung ka-transaksyon ko.’

(How long has he been a mayor, and how does he evaluate the contracts he signs? This could be dangerous if other mayors do the same and say, ‘I didn’t know that the person I was transacting with was my sibling.')

"For one year, it could be made in good faith. One and a half years would be fine. But if it is going on repeatedly for many years and you still don’t know about it, kailangan siguro mag-isip-isip na (perhaps you need to start thinking about it),” Castro said in a press conference.

Castro was reacting to Mayor Duterte's testimony on Day 31 of the Vice President's impeachment trial, in which he said he was aware that the President and Vice President are prohibited from having business interests under Article VII, Section 13 of the Constitution.

However, he said he did not know that his sister was a stockholder of GenCorp. Industries Inc., which secured P33 million worth of contracts with the Davao City government.

Mayor Duterte also said he would know if there were any irregularities in the contracts, if there were any, and that the 19 contracts won by GenCorp during his sister's tenure as vice president were "not too many."

For two successive years, the Vice President declared GenCorp. as one of her business interests in her 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).

According to Castro, all government leaders should remain alert about transactions involving their offices and should not be unaware or indifferent to potential liabilities.

"So kung may liability si Mayor Baste Duterte, hindi tayo ang maghuhusga dito. Maybe ang taong bayan. Dahil ang pinuno ay hindi dapat manatiling walang alam o walang pakialam,” Castro added.

(If Mayor Duterte has any liability, we will not be the ones to judge it. Perhaps the people will. A leader should not remain unaware or indifferent.)

Castro said it was also puzzling that Mayor Duterte was unaware of his sister's links to GenCorp. when one of the company's shareholders, Jaime T. Cruz, is also a business partner of the mayor and his brother in other ventures.

“It would be better to investigate why he is saying he is unaware of his sister’s links to GenCorp. when one of GenCorp.’s owners is also his business partner,” Castro said.

The prosecution is presenting evidence for Article 2 of the impeachment case against the Vice President, which alleges unexplained wealth arising from her alleged failure to truthfully disclose assets in her SALN and failure to divest from businesses, as required of the President and Vice President under the Constitution.

Good faith defense

Meanwhile, two lawmakers said Baste Duterte cannot invoke a good-faith defense concerning the P33 million government contracts awarded by the city government to GenCorp Industries Inc., a declared business interest of his sister.

Ridon cited that aside from Vice President Duterte listing GenCorp as one of her business interests in her 2024 and 2025 SALN, corporate records submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission have shown that one of the firm's shareholders, Jaime T. Cruz, is also a fellow shareholder of mayor Duterte and his brother, Davao City lawmaker Paolo Duterte, in other businesses.

“Because of the volume of these documents, they (mayors) cannot be expected to sift through each and every document [of contracts]. [Pero ang] pinag-uusapan po natin, in a broad sense, you are a local chief executive who grants contracts to one of your business associates. You have the same business associate as your siblings, and he (mayor) said Mr. Cruz is a friend of their father,” Ridon said in a press conference, referring to former President Rodrigo Duterte.

“I would say the good faith defense won’t apply here because of these specific facts,” he added.

House Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V said the Vice President’s SALN declaration is the "smoking gun."

“The smoking gun here is not the person. The smoking gun is the SALN, these contracts and the documents showing such. That is admission against interest,” Ortega said.

“It is clear that there is a conflict of interest here, because it is the company of your sister who is joining the bid for government contracts, and this same firm won a lot of contracts. Parang napaka-imposible actually na paniwalaan na hindi nila alam ‘yun,” he added.

(It really seems impossible to believe that he was unaware of everything.)

House prosecution panel spokesperson Zia Adiong of Lanao del Sur said GenCorp should have distanced itself from the Vice President.

“While the Vice President’s name is not on GenCorp’s company records, GenCorp should have complained to SEC by now and told them that the Vice President, indeed, has no business interest in the company,” Adiong said.

“They could have asked, why is the vice president misrepresenting us to a point that we are now facing this big trouble at the Senate. But have we heard from them? If she is indeed not involved with GenCorp, this company should have filed a complaint already by now, but there’s none,” Adiong added.

The prosecution is presenting evidence for Article 2 of the impeachment case against the Vice President, alleging unexplained wealth due to alleged failure to truthfully disclose assets in her SALN and failure to divest in businesses as required for the President and Vice President under a Constitutional provision.— MCG, GMA News

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