Davao City accountant tells impeachment court VP Sara Duterte got P64,195 in salary differentials

Davao City accountant Vingelin Bajan testified on Tuesday, November 10, that Vice President Sara Duterte received P64,195 in salary differentials from the Davao City government in January 2023, while she was already serving as vice president, according to Rappler.

Appearing on Day 41 of Duterte's impeachment trial, Bajan presented a summary of the differential payroll. It showed the amount was split into two portions: P31,718.64 for January to December 2020 and P32,476.08 for January to December 2021. Bajan said the differentials stemmed from yearly salary increases under the Salary Standardization Law passed in 2019, which she said applied to all government employees.

According to Bajan, the payment covered only adjustments for Duterte's time as Davao City mayor, a post she held before her election as vice president in June 2022. She attributed the delayed release to incomplete supporting documents, including the notice of salary adjustment and the payroll register. "We cannot release the differential if the supporting documents were incomplete," she said, adding that the papers were completed only in January 2023.

A Bureau of Internal Revenue official had earlier testified that Duterte received compensation from the city government in 2023. The House prosecution argues this violated the constitutional ban on additional or double compensation for public officials, which exempts pensions and gratuities.

Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo questioned Bajan's account, saying the city should have waited until Duterte's vice presidential term ends in 2028 before releasing the money. He also pointed to erasures in the documents and suggested the adjustments could have been made after the impeachment came to light.

Prosecutors also challenged Bajan's credibility over her ties to Duterte. Bajan joined the city government in 2001 as a job order worker, became a permanent employee in 2004, was appointed acting city accountant by Duterte in 2016, and became city accountant in 2017. After a lengthy cross-examination marked by repeated contempt warnings from senator-judges over what they called evasive answers, she admitted she had been a partner at an accounting firm, now Elises & Ciudadano, that audited two companies linked to Duterte. She left the firm in 2015.

Duterte faces allegations under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which covers alleged unexplained wealth, including allegedly undeclared assets and properties.