GenCorp Industries Inc., a food corporation listed as a business interest in Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN), secured 49 government contracts worth ₱35.9 million from 2022 to 2026, a House prosecution witness told the Senate impeachment court.
Three government agencies, all based in the Davao region, awarded the contracts. These were the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), and the City of Davao, currently headed by Duterte’s brother, Mayor Sebastian Duterte.
City of Davao gave the largest award to GenCorp worth ₱34,216,900, or 95.37%, according to the witness, Rendell Sopeña, division chief at the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS).
Sopeña was the fourth witness presented by the House prosecution on Tuesday, Sept. 22, in tackling Article II of four impeachment articles against Duterte, which alleged that she has amassed unexplained wealth.
‘Mandatory judicial notice’
Lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro told the impeachment court to take “mandatory judicial notice” or to accept without further evidence some key points in the testimony of Sopeña.
These, she said, included that “the head of procurement entity (HOPE) and the one who approves the resolution of the (bids and awards committee) of City of Davao is no less than Mayor Sebastian Duterte,” Luistro said.
Before Sopeña took the stand, senator-judges tried to determine the role of the Vice President in GenCorp, which she declared in her SALN to be a stockholder and board director since 2016. Her name, however, did not appear in corporate and financial records under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Gerardo del Rosario, director of the SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department, took the witness stand again on Tuesday and reiterated what he said the day before that the Vice President’s name did not appear in GenCorp’s general information sheet and audited financial statements as a stockholder or director.
Duterte’s name also did not show in SEC records for Times Square Bee Food Corp. and Great Jolly Times Foods Corp., which, like GenCorp, she had listed as having business interest in her SALN.
Del Rosario also said the last two businesses were not former names of GenCorp as stated in Duterte’s SALN.
Trust agreement?
Senate impeachment presiding officer Francis Escudero asked the witness to explain why Duterte declared herself as an incorporator of GenCorp, and yet her name was not in SEC records.
“The explanation could be that she has a trust agreement with the persons involved (in GenCorp)…or it can be that in this company, she is a corporate shareholder with control over it,” Del Rosario said.
Escudero asked whether this meant she was a “nominee or beneficial owner.” The SEC official agreed.
Senator-judge Bam Aquino said the “best person who can speak on Duterte’s role in GenCorp is GenCorp itself.”
Special envoy to China
The biggest shareholder in GenCorp, Jaime Tan Cruz, was appointed special envoy to China for trade and investment by then President Rodrigo Duterte, the Vice President’s father, according to Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo.
“Same name, same person,” House private prosecutor Erwin Matib told Tulfo.
Tulfo said President Duterte offered Cruz the job of heading PhilHealth after his stint as special envoy to China, but he declined.
Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan said five food corporations linked to the Vice President and her husband had over ₱2 billion in gross sales from 2007 to 2024.
Noting that some of the corporation names had “king,” “chow,” “Jollibee,” and “bee,” and the billion pesos in gross sales, Pangilinan asked whether they were franchises of Jollibee and Chowking. Matib replied in the affirmative.
Matib said that in one financial statement presented by Del Rosario, he identified the word “Jollibee for GenCorp.”
Presenting Sopeña to the impeachment court, Luistro said the PhilGEPS official provided the House prosecution team with documents on GenCorp stored in the government agency’s database.
“We are the repository of procurement data,” Sopeña said, adding that he prepared a summary of documents for the impeachment court.
Jollibee-Bolton
From July 21, 2022 to June 23, 2026, he said, 49 contracts worth ₱35,878,188 were awarded to GenCorp—one from Owwa, 11 from City of Davao, and 33 from PhilHealth.
One of the documents Luistro showed was a contract between Owwa and Jollibee-Bolton, a “corporation under GenCorp,” he said.
As she presented the summary of documents prepared by Sopeña, defense lawyer Roberto Batungbacal objected, saying she was making “conclusions of law.” Escudero disagreed as Luistro stressed that Duterte declared in her SALN that she is a shareholder of GenCorp.
“The admission came from the respondent. I wish to invoke the jurisprudence that admission must be given greater weight,” the House lead counsel said.
Batungbacal reminded the impeachment court that it already ruled on GenCorp and that the prosecution needed to show relevance in its presentation. Escudero, though, allowed Luistro to continue with her presentation.
Sopeña testified that documents showed that PhilHealth was awarded ₱1,331,288, and Owwa, ₱330,000.
Luistro moved for the court to take mandatory judicial notice of the following:
• That the Ombudsman officer-in-charge of the records division had testified in Duterte’s SALN in 2024 and 2025; she declared she is a shareholder of GenCorp
• Article VII, Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution stated that public officials shall not, during their tenure, directly or indirectly practice another profession, participate in any business, or be financially interested, or be in a contract with or any franchise or any privilege granted by the government
• Section 66 of Republic Act (RA) No. 12009, or the New Government Procurement Act, stated that the head of the procuring entity or his duly authorized representative shall approve or disapprove the recommendation of the bids and awards committee (BAC)
• Section 5 of RA 12009 stated that the HOPE of the local government unit is the local chief executive, and “we ultimately invoke mandatory judicial notice to the fact that the head of procurement who approves the resolutions of the BAC is no less than Mayor Sebastian Duterte.
Mayor Duterte
Ruling on Luistro’s motion, Escudero acknowledged that Duterte’s SALNs were identified in court and GenCorp was mentioned. “The court takes judicial notice of the law cited by Luistro but not of the interpretation, meaning, or application of those laws,” he said.
Escudero said Mayor Duterte would face the impeachment court next week.
The presiding officer said the court will take notice of GenCorp, but he added the prosecution presented a witness that Duterte is not a stockholder of GenCorp. “So let judges peruse, evaluate, and weigh those testimonies of the witness,” he added. CS
Read more: SEC official reveals Duterte corporate role in food firm
