Davao City Accountant Draws Contempt Warnings at Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial Over Audit Firm Ties

By Kaeleb Savon Heck

DAVAO DEL NORTE, Nov. 11, 2026 — Davao City's own accountant spent much of Tuesday on the witness stand at the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, and by the end of the day senator-judges were openly warning that witnesses who dodge questions could be cited for contempt.

City Accountant Vingelin Bajan, called by the defense on Day 41 of the trial on Nov. 10, testified that Duterte received P64,194.72 from the Davao City government in January 2023 as salary differentials owed from 2020 and 2021, when she was still the city's mayor. Bajan said the money was paid only in 2023 because the supporting documents were completed only then.

The harder questions came on cross-examination. A House private prosecutor confronted Bajan with Securities and Exchange Commission records showing she had been a partner in an accounting firm that later served as external auditor for companies linked to the Vice President. Bajan said repeatedly that she could not recall the details, even when shown documents bearing her own signature and tax account number, before finally acknowledging the partnership.

Presiding Officer Francis Escudero told her his patience was "wearing thin," according to Rappler. Sen. Lito Lapid stood up to say that her inability to answer made it look as if she was being used. Bajan insisted she was not.

For Davao, the testimony matters on two levels. It puts the city government's payroll practices under national scrutiny, and it adds a second consecutive day in which a Davao City official on the stand frustrated the court that will decide whether the city's former mayor stays in office.

What the accountant said about the salary payment

According to GMA News, Bajan confirmed a summary of payroll records showing that Duterte was entitled to P64,194.72 in salary differentials for 2020 and 2021. Salary differentials are the extra amounts government workers are owed when pay rates are adjusted, in this case under the Salary Standardization Law of 2019, as DavaoNews reported, citing DZRH.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo asked whether all City Hall employees had actually been paid those differentials. Bajan said every employee was covered by the adjustment, but she could not confirm that all of them had received the money. She told the court that some employees had missed out because their supporting documents were incomplete. She explained that payroll in the city government is decentralized: each office prepares its own payroll, and the accounting office evaluates it.

Tulfo questioned why Duterte's own differential took years to process, particularly since the delay was reportedly tied to requirements from the mayor's office, which Duterte headed at the time. He compared it with security guards who had complained on his radio program about unpaid wages and, he said, were paid within two to three days of submitting their requirements.

"Dito, umabot ng ilang taon bago maibigay dahil sa delayed sa pag-submit ng requirements, I find it hard to believe," Tulfo said, according to DavaoNews. In English, he was saying that here it took several years to release because of late requirements, and he found that hard to believe.

Tulfo also raised concerns about changes to the payment voucher for Duterte's differential, including altered dates and an added countersignature, and asked whether the document might have been changed after impeachment proceedings began. Bajan said she could not explain the missing requirements or the delays, and that the evaluation had been done by accounting staff rather than by her.

Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia then pointed out that the P64,194.72 did not appear in the Vice President's 2024 annual income tax return, which, she said, showed no compensation from either the Davao City government or the Office of the Vice President. Bajan said she could not confirm the figures in the return.

The accounting firm question

The exchange that drew the sharpest reaction concerned Bajan's past. Divinagracia cited SEC records, including the 2003 Articles of Partnership of Ampil, Elises, Ciudadano & Co., CPAs, which bore Bajan's signature as a partner.

Rappler reported that the firm, now called Elises & Ciudadano, served as external auditor of Gencorp Industries Inc. and Metro City Chow Foods Inc., two companies linked to Duterte. Sen. Win Gatchalian said during the trial that the firm is also the external auditor of the Vice President and her husband, Manases Carpio.

Bajan first said she could not remember being a partner. Shown the Articles of Partnership and the Amended Articles of Partnership, she said they contained her tax account number and signatures similar to hers, but that she could not recall signing them. "I can't recall all of these documents…. But this is my tax account number and signatures," she said, according to Rappler.

After further questioning she admitted she had been a partner, and said she left the firm in 2015 for personal reasons. Philstar reported that she acknowledged being a partner since the firm's registration in 2003, at a time when she was also working for the Davao City government under a job-order arrangement. Sen. Joel Villanueva noted that the amended partnership papers included her signed affidavit of withdrawal.

Defense spokesperson Michael Poa said the defense was surprised to learn of Bajan's links to the firm, and maintained that the defense had not prepared its witnesses, GMA News reported.

Background: a trial about wealth and assets

The defense is currently presenting evidence against Article 2 of the impeachment complaint. According to GMA News, that article accuses Duterte of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution over alleged unexplained wealth of P817 million to P1.5 billion, stemming from the alleged non-declaration of assets and failure to divest from businesses despite a constitutional prohibition.

Several of the defense's recent witnesses are local officials from Davao City and nearby Samal. On Nov. 9, Davao City Assessor Adalin drew criticism after he was seen smiling during testimony and told private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. that a question about his trip to China was irrelevant. Rappler, which described him as having initially lied about the trip, reported that the prosecution called the episode a "rude awakening."

On Tuesday, before Bajan took the stand, Island Garden City of Samal assessor John Kenneth Enumerables testified that he could not confirm whether a Samal property acquired by Carpio in 2013 was the same one declared in the couple's joint Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth from 2015 onward, because the statement did not list the property's Transfer Certificate of Title. Senator-judges also noted that land titles place the property in Barangay Matanos while its tax declaration lists Barangay San Isidro.

Analysis: credibility is now the issue

Impeachment trials are as much about credibility as documents. A defense witness is supposed to make the defense's case stronger, and on paper Bajan's core testimony was simple: the money was a routine back payment, delayed by paperwork.

But the cross-examination shifted attention away from the payment and toward the witness herself. When a city's chief accountant cannot at first confirm her own signature on partnership papers, and that partnership later audited companies tied to the person on trial, senators are going to ask whether she is a neutral record-keeper. Lapid's question, whether she was being used, said out loud what several senator-judges appeared to be thinking.

The testimony also raises a question that reaches beyond the trial. If some Davao City employees really did miss salary differentials because of incomplete paperwork, as Bajan said, those workers may still be owed money from a 2019 pay adjustment. The trial was not convened to answer that, and no official figure on how many employees are affected was given in the reports reviewed for this story.

Two days in a row, senator-judges came away frustrated with Davao City officials. Sen. Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Panfilo Lacson asked the court on Tuesday to remind witnesses of the penalties for lying under oath, with Lacson citing Senate Resolution No. 39, which sets out the court's contempt powers. Escudero opened Day 41 by warning that witnesses who lie or mock the court could be held in contempt, and Rappler reported he would repeat that warning to each new witness.

"Yesterday, the witness was laughing and today, this witness is being evasive. Should we cite them in contempt to respect the impeachment court?" Tulfo asked, according to Rappler.

What's next

• More defense witnesses: The defense is still presenting evidence on Article 2, the unexplained wealth charge.
• Sub judice complaint: Tolosa told reporters the prosecution would ask the court to sanction Duterte and her spokesperson, lawyer Paolo Panelo, over public statements the prosecution says attacked the integrity of the court and violated the sub judice rule, which limits public comment that could prejudice a pending case. Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison had argued that Tolosa's own statements were not fair commentary.
• Timeline: Escudero said he hopes the trial can be finished within the year, but stressed the court has no fixed timeline and that the end date depends on the evidence and the flow of hearings.

Sources

• GMA News, "Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 41: Contempt warning, salary differential, witness's accounting firm ties": https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/1009050/sara-duterte-impeachment-trial-day-41-contempt-warning-salary-differential-witness-s-accounting-firm-t/story/
• Rappler, "Davao accountant can't confirm own signature, tests senator-judges' patience": https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/senator-judges-warn-contempt-evasive-witness-vingelin-bajan/
• Philstar.com, "Lapid to Davao City accountant at Duterte trial: 'Are you being used?'": https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/11/11/2569229/lapid-davao-city-accountant-duterte-trial-are-you-being-used
• DavaoNews, "Davao City accountant tells impeachment court some employees missed salary differentials": https://davaonews.com/news/davao-city-accountant-admits-some-employees-were-not-paid-salary-diffe-zi4tjc
• ABS-CBN News, "Senator-judges grill Davao City accountant over evasive answers in VP impeachment trial": https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/11/10/anc-senator-judges-grill-davao-city-accountant-over-evasive-answers-in-vp-impeachment-trial-2206