DAY 27: Monday, September 21, 2026
Today is the 27th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, with the prosecution set to present new witness, Gerardo del Rosario of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accuses Duterte of unexplained wealth.
2:50 p.m. - Trial adjourns.
2:47 p.m. - Escudero rules on the earlier manifestation of Ridon. He says the word "misrepresentation" will be stricken from the record and replaced with “inaccuracies.” Gular submits.
2:37 p.m. - Senator-judge Joel Villanueva points out that Duterte declared in her Statement Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) that she was a stockholder of Gencorp Industries, Inc. from 2013. Del Rosario says Duterte's name does not appear as incorporator, director or stockholder of Gencorp. He adds that they do not have access to the SALN and only rely on documents submitted to them.
2:33 p.m. - Escudero asks Del Rosario what the policy of SEC is regarding a President and Vice President owning a corporation. Del Rosario says they do not have a policy regarding this and that there was no directive for them to flag a Vice President, a Cabinet member or anyone covered by the Constitution.
2:05 p.m. - The counsel for the respondent will do his cross-examination tomorrow. Senator-judges are recognized for their interjections.
2:03 p.m. - Del Rosario says the following companies do not have declared dividends based on the Audited Financial Statements (AFS), GIS and other documents: City Hall King Chow Metro City Chow Corp. Cale88 Food Corp. Mati City Ice Plant and Cold Storage Geometry Security and Investigation Agency Great Jolly Times Food Corp. Timesquare Bee Food Corp. Davao New Royal Taipan Food Corporation Davao Emerging Taipan Corporation.
1:56 p.m. - Del Rosario confirms that the following businesses in the slides have no dividends declared. Gular objects, says these companies are not part of the witness' summaries. Escudero says he will allow Matib to continue and notes that these are only part of the prosecution's illustration.
1:46 p.m. - Matib moves on to Timesquare Bee Foods Corporation. Del Rosario reads the names of the incorporators.
1:39 p.m. - Cale88 has no dividends declared from 2021 to 2023. It also has a net loss of more than P1.9 million.
1:37 p.m. - One of the stockholders of Cale88, based on its 2025 GIS, is Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corporation which owns 95%.
1:34 p.m. - Matib moves on to Cale88 Foods Corporation. Del Rosario says the one who has interest in the company is Duterte's husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, who is incorporator, director and shareholder of the company. He owns 40% of the company, according to Del Rosario. Data from the GIS also says Carpio is the Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2022. From 2022 to 2024, Carpio's subscription, paid-up amount and percent of ownership grew.
1:29 p.m. - Jaime T. Cruz is listed as incorporator of several companies.
1:28 p.m. - The 2025 GIS of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation says Jaime T. Cruz and Sara Z. Duterte are members of its Board of Directors, according to Del Rosario.
1:26 p.m. - The 2025 GIS of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation shows the name of Jaime T. Cruz in the list of stockholders. Cruz has 1,997 shares followed by Sara Z. Duterte with 500 shares.
1:23 p.m. - Matib goes back to the SEC documents of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation. Del Rosario confirms that the biggest subscriber of the company's shares of stock is Jaime T. Cruz followed by Sara Z. Duterte.
1:15 p.m. - JTC can also be found in the GIS of Gencorp as part of the Directors/Officers. JTC is represented by Jaime T. Cruz.
1:14 p.m. - Del Rosario says the biggest subscriber of Gencorp is the JTC Group of Companies which has 6,250 shares amounting to P625,000.
1:11 p.m. - Del Rosario says there is nothing wrong with representing someone in a business unless this is done to evade the law, which says a certain business cannot be entered into.
1:09 p.m. - Del Rosario agrees with Matib that that there are instances when a person can still have control over a company even if he or she is not identified as an incorporator or director. The witness says there can be a trust agreement to represent someone's interest in a company.
1:04 p.m. - According to Del Rosario, there was no information regarding dividends in the Financial Statements and GIS of Gencorp from 2021-2024, thus no dividends were declared. He says dividends could have been declared because there were unappropriated or unrestricted retained earnings.
12:57 p.m. - Del Rosario says Duterte's name does not appear in the Articles of Incorporation and GIS of Gencorp Industries Inc.
12:56 p.m. - Matib asks Del Rosario about Gencorp Industries Inc. The latter says the primary purpose of this business is to operate a restaurant.
12:54 p.m. - Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison says the effort to strike out the two statements is "futile and meaningless" because the statements were made in support of the objection of the counsel of the respondent. Escudero says he will rule later because he has yet to get a copy of the transcript of stenographic notes.
12:52 p.m. - Ridon asks the court to strike out two statements from the counsel for the respondent-- 1) "A quick perusal of the document already shows some misrepresentation." 2) "Clearly, this is again an attempt and apologies to use the term, to condition the minds of the public over these figures." Ridon says they believe these statements should not be used because they are using documents submitted to the court. He also says they submitted to remove the supposed misleading heading of the document.
12:49 p.m. - Trial resumes.
12:07 p.m. - Escudero declares a lunch break and trial will resume at 12:45pm.
12:07 p.m. - According to Del Rosario, dividends cannot be declared if there is a deficit.
12:05 p.m. - Del Rosario confirms that the total gross sales of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation from 2017 to 2025 is more than P309 million, while the net income or net loss is negative P3.15 million.
12:02 p.m. - According to Del Rosario, no dividends were declared from 2020 to 2025 as well because they did not find any information in the Financial Statements and GIS declaring dividends.
12:00 p.m. - Del Rosario says Metro City Chow Foods Corporation had no declared dividends for the years 2017 to 2019.
11:43 a.m. - Matib asks Del Rosario if a Vice President is allowed to be a member of the Board of Directors of a certain company. According to Del Rosario, the Constitution says that the President, Vice President, Cabinet members and their deputies and assistants cannot have business interests to avoid conflict of interest.
11:36 a.m. - Del Rosario confirms that in 2025, Duterte was still a member of the Board of Directors of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation and a member of its Executive Compensation Committee.
11:29 a.m. - Duterte is also a member of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation's Executive Committee, particularly the Compensation Committee, according to Del Rosario who based his information on the company's GIS.
11:27 a.m. - Del Rosario confirms that based on the GIS of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation, Duterte is a member of its Board of Directors from 2018 to 2021.
11:22 a.m. - Del Rosario says Duterte subscribed an amount of P50,000 on Metro City Chow Foods Corporation.
11:18 a.m. - Matib asks Del Rosario about the summary on Metro City Chow Foods Corporation. The witness says Duterte is an incorporator and director of the corporation based on its Article of Incorporation.
11:10 a.m. - Gular also objects to the presentation of summaries on JTC and Pikimong Pikimong. Escudero sustains the objection.
11:09 a.m. - Senator-judge and Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano says fairness is essential in the trial. He points out that what's worse than a misleading question is a misleading document. Escudero says what should be changed in the summaries is the title -- "Summary of Vice President Sara Duterte’s shareholdings." Escudero explains that the contents of the documents pertain not only to the ownership of Duterte but also the ownership of corporations. He instructs the technical booth to remove the title in flashing the slides.
11:01 a.m. - Matib says the summaries are not misleading because there is a specific column for Duterte and a separate column for company total. Matib also denies the accusation of misrepresentation and moves to strike this out. Escudero says they will check the record.
10:59 a.m. - Gular objects to the presentation of the summary from SEC. He alleges misrepresentation and an attempt to condition the minds of the public over the figures. He points out as well that they only received the copy of the summary today. Escudero says the matters raised by Gular will be subject to his cross-examination and he will be given time to review the summary. Escudero says the cross-examination may be done after lunch today or tomorrow.
10:50 a.m. - Del Rosario says he and his staff made a summary of the information contained in the Articles of Information, GIS, and audited Financial Statements.
10:43 a.m. - Senator-judge and Presiding Officer Francis Escudero sustains the objection, says the General Information Sheets (GIS) of JTC and Pikimong Pikimong do not contain the name of Duterte and her husband. Escudero says, however, that they can recall Del Rosario to testify on the two businesses if the prosecution can show proof of connection, because the mere mention or absence in the GIS does not mean a person is not part of a corporation.
10:39 a.m. - Gular objects to the witness' identification and authentication of corporate documents belonging to the JTC Group of Companies and Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corporation. He says the impeachment court already ruled to exclude these companies because of no established connection between the respondent and these corporations. Matib argues that they will establish the connection between these two companies and other companies.
10:33 a.m. - Del Rosario says they previously transmitted to the House of Representatives documents regarding the businesses related to Duterte upon receipt of a subpoena. He is currently identifying these documents such as Certificates of Corporate Filing and Articles of Incorporation.
10:22 a.m. - Del Rosario says their department has five divisions, one of which is mandated with processing applications for corporate partnership.
10:18 a.m. - Matib proceeds with his direct examination.
10:16 a.m. - Atty. Justin Gular, counsel for the respondent, objects to the offer of testimony because of alleged conclusion of ownership and conclusions of law.
10:13 a.m. - Matib says Del Rosario will testify that Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, own certain businesses and have shares of stock.
10:11 a.m. - Counsel for the panel of prosecutors Atty. Erwin Matib calls their witness for the day -- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Company Registration and Monitoring Department Director Gerardo del Rosario.
10:08 a.m. - House Prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon, one of the co-leads for Article 2 or the alleged unexplained wealth, says they are dispensing with the presentation of Atty. Ariel Ronquillo, Assistant Commissioner of the Civil Service Commission. Ridon says this is because they are already satisfied with the testimonies of former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Atty. Karen Batu, Officer-in-Charge of the Central Records Division of the Office of the Ombudsman.
10:03 a.m. - Quorum is declared with 15 senator-judges
10:00 a.m. - Day 27 of the #VPOnTrial is called to order.
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