Senators grill Davao accountant on VP firms

MANILA, Philippines — Senator-judges yesterday zeroed in on the relationship of defense witness, Davao City accountant Vingelin Bajan, to the companies being linked to Vice President Sara Duterte in her alleged undeclared assets and hidden wealth.

During Day 41 of the impeachment trial, Bajan testified about the P64,194.72 “salary differential” paid to Duterte from her increase in 2020 and 2021 salaries as Davao City mayor that was belatedly paid to her in 2023 when she was already Vice President.

But upon the prosecution’s cross-examination, senator-judges learned that Bajan was a partner in the accounting firm Ampil, Elises, Ciudadano, and Co. CPAs while she was already a Davao city hall employee, constituting a conflict of interest.

The prosecution pointed out the link to cast doubt on her credibility as defense witness.

The firm turned out to be an external auditor for Duterte-linked firms GenCorp Industries Inc., Metro City Chow Foods Corp., Town Times Square B, City Hall King Chow Foods Corp. and Great Jolly Times Food Corp.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian flagged Bajan’s connection to the Duterte firms because of her double job as Davao city accountant and an external auditor partner.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan pointed out Bajan became a regular employee of the Davao City Accounting Office in 2004, while she was a partner in the accounting firm. She resigned from the accounting firm only in 2015 and was appointed Davao city accountant in 2017 by the Vice President herself when Duterte was mayor.

Senator-judges were irked by Bajan’s initial hesitation to answer questions about her double job as city hall employee and accounting firm partner by feigning ignorance about her signature on the partnership’s papers.

“My patience is wearing thin. Forgive me. If you were part of an accounting firm, it’s probably difficult to forget that,” impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero said.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo warned Bajan that she could be cited in contempt for her refusal to answer the questions directly.

Tulfo compared her to the defense witness on Monday, Davao city assessor Jaime Adalin, who also irritated the senator-judges for smirking at the court while dodging questions about an all-expenses paid trip to China.

“Yesterday, the witness was laughing his ass off. This one is very evasive, feigning ignorance. Why don’t we slap them with contempt so they will have some respect for the impeachment court,” he said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson had earlier warned witnesses that they can be cited in contempt anytime if they continue their “mockery” of the trial.

Sen. Bam Aquino, meanwhile, appealed to Bajan to just answer questions directly, saying the senator-judges were not implying that she had committed a crime, although he warned her of being in “dangerous territory” by being evasive.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she found it hard to believe Bajan would not remember affixing her signature in her partnership with the accounting firm, as she also cast doubt on Bajan’s ignorance on the auditing services to Duterte-linked firms.

Witness: I almost became a nun

Bajan turned emotional during the interjection of Sen. Joel Villanueva, who asked her to convince him that she had good intentions as a government official despite moonlighting in an accounting firm.

Bajan said she had earned her keep by being a hardworking city hall employee in Davao, telling the senator-judges that she almost became a nun and was grateful she entered public service instead.

Sen. Lito Lapid, for his part, said he commiserated with Bajan, who was starting to look distressed at their questions on the alleged conflict of interest.

Lapid asked her if she was being used by testifying for the defense in the Vice President’s impeachment trial, to which Bajan said no.

In her interjection, Sen. Imee Marcos took up the cudgels for the defense witness, saying she was being asked about “collateral issues” not related to her testimony about the Vice President’s salary differential.

‘Glaring discrepancies’

Meanwhile, the prosecution flagged what they described as “glaring discrepancies” in the testimony of Duterte’s witnesses regarding her alleged concealed properties.

Private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. questioned the defense’s claim that the properties in Davao City had been declared in Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

The issue first arose during the testimony of Adalin on Nov. 9, whom the defense presented to prove that a property in Matina Crossing, Davao City had been declared in Duterte’s SALN.

The prosecution maintained that the property, registered under Duterte’s husband Manases Carpio, had not been disclosed. The defense claimed, however, that it was listed under a different location description.

Tolosa said a similar issue had emerged over another property registered under Carpio’s name in Barangay San Isidro, Kaputian, Island Garden City of Samal.

During cross-examination, Tolosa established that Duterte’s 2025 SALN listed an acquisition cost of P4 million and an acquisition year of 2013 for the property cited by the defense.

But the deed of absolute sale for the property registered under Duterte’s husband showed a selling price of P3.4 million and was executed five years later on March 15, 2018.

“You will admit that the purchase price indicated here, it’s not P4 million. It’s P3.4 million?” Tolosa asked Island Garden City of Samal assessor John Kenneth Enumerables yesterday.

“Yes, correct, sir,” the witness replied.

The Samal property, covered by Transfer Certificate of Title number 142-2019013134, has an assessed value of P346,960 and a market value of P4.9 million.

“This property also, there are glaring discrepancies,” Tolosa told the court.

The disputed property forms part of the prosecution’s evidence supporting its allegation that Duterte accumulated at least P817.87 million in undeclared assets and unexplained wealth from 2022 to 2025.

Enumerables confirmed that the land titles he presented contained no annotation of a contract to sell. The property, covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 142-2019013134, is officially located in Barangay San Isidro, Kaputian, Island Garden City of Samal.

But the property cited by the defense in Duterte’s SALN was listed under Barangay Matanos, Kaputian. The witness earlier acknowledged that the two locations did not match.

He said he relied on the matching assessed value of P346,960 and market value of P4.9 million to link the property to Duterte’s SALN. — Delon Porcalla, Neil Jayson Servallos, Daphne Galvez