Sara Duterte, husband-linked companies recorded losses—SEC official

MANILA — Most of the companies linked to Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, recorded losses and may not be the reason behind the second highest official’s rise in net worth, a Securities and Exchange Commission official said Tuesday.  

Gerardo Del Rosario, SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department director, testified that all companies Duterte disclosed as her and her husband’s business interests, except GenCorp Industries Inc., Davao Emerging Taipans Corporation, SGT Fortune Horse Corporation and Mati City Ice Plant and Cold Storage Inc., did not declare dividends.

“Wala pong impormasyon kung nagdeklara sila ng dibidendo,” Del Rosario told the Senate impeachment court.  

Dividends are the company’s distribution to shareholders as per its net income. 

Del Rosario’s testimony was based on his department’s summary of the vice president’s business interests declared on her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

Senator-judge Sherwin Gatchalian asked the witness, “Kung ibabangga sa SALN, hindi pwedeng manggaling sa corporations niya yung paglaki ng net worth?”

“Kung ayon po dito, wala po siyang natanggap na dibidendo, hindi ko po alam kung meron po siyang madedeklarang kinita out of these corporations,” Del Rosario responded.  

Gatchalian also noted the witness’ earlier testimony that while Duterte listed herself as a stockholder of GenCorp, her name was not listed as incorporator, director nor stockholder on the company’s documents. 

“Sa GenCorp Industries Inc. po, wala po kasing pangalan si VP Sara Duterte from [Articles of Incorporation] up to the filing of GIS (General Information Sheet),” Del Rosario said.

Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, in a statement ahead of his expected appearance at his sister’s impeachment trial, said “neither the name Sara Zimmerman Duterte nor the surname ‘Duterte’ appears in any of the official documents” of the company. 

Gencorp was awarded 15 contracts from the Davao City government, according to witness Rendell Sopeña, division chief of PhilGEPS’ Electronic Government Procurement Operations Division.

Del Rosario’s testimony comes as the court tackles the second Article of Impeachment, alleging Duterte of unexplained wealth. 

He said there may be other causes of Duterte’s increase in net worth outside her declared business interests. 

The prosecution earlier presented a year-by-year account of Duterte’s declared net worth, which showed that her wealth rose from P7.25 million in 2007, when she was Davao City vice mayor, to P98.6 million in 2025.

Meanwhile, former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang testified last week that the Vice President is constitutionally barred from directly or indirectly participating in any business while in office.