Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team brought Davao City accountant Vingelin Bajan as their second witness for her trial. She testified on Tuesday, November 10, a day after Davao City assessor Jaime Adalin.
But coming from Davao City is not the only common denominator between the two officials. They were also both flagged by the impeachment court for failing to recall things connected — either directly or indirectly — to their job.
Both the senator-judges and the prosecution grilled Bajan over her ties to the Elises and Ciudadano accounting firm (formerly known as Ampil, Elises, Ciudadano and Co.) Prosecutor Mae Divinagracia showed documents supposedly showing Bajan’s involvement with the firm.
At one point, Divinagracia showed a copy of amended articles of general partnership that supposedly removed the accountant’s name from the firm in 2015, but Bajan said she could not recall anything.
“Hindi ko na maalala (I could no longer remember),” said the accountant. “Hindi ko po ma-remember, your honor (I could not remember). Sorry.”
Bajan later confirmed that she’s no longer part of the firm but still insisted that she no longer remembers the document being presented to her.
“Miss Evan, parte kayo ng accounting firm, hindi ‘nyo maalala kung kailan kayo umalis o kung finile po ‘yan? Nasa harap ‘nyo na po ‘yong dokumento?”
