MANILA, Philippines — Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records presented during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial have revealed discrepancies between some of her declared business interests in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) and the companies’ official corporate filings.
During the Senate impeachment court proceedings, SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department Director Gerardo Fernando Del Rosario testified on corporate records involving 18 companies linked to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio. The records covered the companies’ ownership structures, corporate positions, financial statements, and dividend declarations.
One of the companies examined was Gencorp Industries Inc., which Duterte listed as a business interest in her 2024 and 2025 SALNs. However, the SEC records presented to the court did not identify Duterte as an incorporator, stockholder, or director of the company.
The discrepancy became a point of discussion during the trial, with prosecutors arguing that Duterte’s sworn declarations should be examined alongside the corporate records to determine the nature of her reported business interests.
Del Rosario also testified that Duterte remained listed as a director of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation in the company’s General Information Sheets for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The testimony was raised in relation to Article VII, Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution, which prohibits the President and Vice President, during their tenure, from directly or indirectly participating in any business or being financially interested in certain government contracts, franchises, and privileges.
The SEC records also showed that 10 of the 18 companies examined had no declared dividends in multiple years covered by the records. Eight other companies had no annual financial statements available in the SEC records presented to the court.
According to Del Rosario, the absence of financial statements for those companies meant the SEC could not establish from the available records whether the companies had paid dividends to their stockholders.
The prosecution has been using the corporate records to examine whether Duterte’s declared wealth and business interests can be accounted for by legitimate sources of income. The House prosecution team has pointed to what it described as a disparity between the growth of Duterte and Carpio’s declared net worth and the financial information available from companies associated with them.
Duterte’s defense, however, questioned the presentation and interpretation of the SEC documents. Defense lawyer Justin Nicol Gular argued that some figures shown in the SEC summary referred to corporate capital and transactions rather than Duterte’s personal shareholdings, saying the documents could create a misleading impression if not properly distinguished.
The SEC testimony forms part of the prosecution’s presentation under the impeachment article concerning alleged unexplained wealth and inaccurate declarations in Duterte’s SALNs.
The proceedings are continuing as the Senate impeachment court examines financial, corporate, and other records submitted in connection with the allegations against the Vice President.
