September 22, 2026

Atty. Gerardo F. del Rosario, an SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department representative, resumed his testimony. He said his department supplied the corporate records requested by the House and that he had no access to anyone’s SALN.

Del Rosario said GenCorp incorporation and GIS records did not list Vice President Sara Duterte. Metro City Chow Foods GIS filings from 2018 to 2025 listed her as director and stockholder.

Del Rosario read a 2025 GenCorp GIS entry showing JTC Group of Companies with a 54.99 percent stake. He said his department did not hold JTC’s beneficial ownership declaration identifying its ultimate owner.

Del Rosario described GenCorp, Great Jolly Times Food, and Times Square B Food as separate corporations. He offered trust arrangements or layered corporate ownership as possible explanations for a SALN interest that did not appear as direct shareholding in the records he held.

Rendell P. Sopeña, Division Chief of the Electronic Government Procurement Operations Division of the PhilGEPS Office, was sworn. He said a repository search by GenCorp’s merchant name returned 49 awarded contracts: one from OWWA Region 11, 33 from PhilHealth Region 11, and 15 from the City of Davao.

Sopeña said his team extracted 231 related documents totaling 484 pages. He said he certified and signed the printouts as representations of documents from the PhilGEPS repository.

Sopeña identified USB media, a raw-data workbook tab generated from the repository, and separate agency summary tabs prepared by his team. The records discussed included requests for quotation, invitations to bid, notices of award, resolutions, and notices to proceed.

From the summaries, Sopeña gave award totals of ₱330,000 for OWWA Region 11, ₱1,331,288 for PhilHealth Region 11, and ₱34,216,900 for the City of Davao.

Senate President Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian opened the trial, corrected the quorum count to 17 senator-judges, and recognized Presiding Officer Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero. The court dispensed with reading the September 21, 2026 Journal and considered it approved.

The court resumed Del Rosario’s testimony for defense cross-examination, prosecution follow-up, and senator-judge questions. The chair excused him before the afternoon witness was called.

The afternoon sitting began with Sopeña’s oath and the prosecution’s offer of his testimony. The defense stipulated his PhilGEPS position but objected to the prosecution’s fourth stated purpose.

After Sopeña’s direct examination, the chair arranged his return for possible defense cross-examination on September 28. The trial was suspended until September 23 for oral arguments.

Prosecutor Atty. Erwin G. Matib emphasized notarized GIS and financial-statement materials and the Metro City Chow Foods entries listing Sara Duterte as director and stockholder from 2018 to 2025.

Rep. Gerville R. Luistro offered Sopeña to identify GenCorp procurement awards, including City of Davao transactions she linked to Article II, and relied on the pretrial reservation of PhilGEPS material.

Luistro argued that GenCorp awards related to Article II’s alleged failure to divest business and financial interests. She invoked earlier SALN testimony and sought judicial notice of the cited laws and the Davao mayor’s asserted role.

Defense counsel Atty. Justin Nicol B. Gular tested the SEC summaries’ provenance: Del Rosario confirmed they were undated and unsigned, while Gular pressed the absence of a seal and the scope of the House request and SEC transmittal.

Gular challenged any inference from missing dividend declarations or corporate filings about the Vice President’s personal income, management participation, or the existence of a trust arrangement. Del Rosario said his department lacked the SALN and relevant private or management records.

Atty. Roberto N. Batungbacal objected to the prosecution’s fourth purpose for Sopeña and to the timing and prior notice of the PhilGEPS records. After seeing the summary and USB, he sought printed copies and time to examine them before cross-examination.

Batungbacal challenged the asserted link between the GenCorp awards and the impeachment charge, objected to counsel drawing factual or legal conclusions from the records, and said the cited city awards came after Sara Duterte had left Davao City office.

Presiding Officer Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero, in his own substantive questions, clarified that the business-interest provision can cover capacities beyond shareholding and that a person identified in the SEC filings was an incorporator, not necessarily a shareholder. He asked how common nondeclaration of dividends was; Del Rosario gave a tentative roughly half-and-half estimate for a single year. Escudero distinguished directors from officers who run daily operations, then compared Vice President Sara Duterte's 2015, 2016, and 2024 SALN entries with SEC records: Del Rosario confirmed her incorporation of City Hall King Chow Foods and Metro City Chow Foods, found no direct entry for her in Great Jolly Times Food or Times Square B Foods, and said the firms described as "formerly" related remained separate legal entities. Asked how a declared interest could coexist with absent direct shareholding records, Del Rosario offered trust or corporate-shareholder control as possibilities. Escudero also examined possible nominees, who would bear responsibility for inaccurate corporate disclosures, and whether the SEC routinely receives private trust or share-transfer instruments; the witness said those instruments were not routinely required. These were questions and clarifications, separate from Escudero's chair rulings and counsel's examination.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo asked whether JTC stood for Jaime T. Cruz and whether SEC records listed Cruz in City Hall King Chow, Metro City Chow, Great Jolly Times, Davao New Royal Taipan, Davao Emerging Taipans, and Davao Bounty Times. SEC witness Gerardo F. del Rosario said JTC's incorporation papers did not disclose that meaning, but confirmed Cruz's name in the six companies' records. Tulfo also asked whether Cruz chaired JTC; the witness gave no answer, and Presiding Officer Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero explained that JTC had not been subpoenaed. Tulfo then asked whether Cruz was the former President's special envoy to China for trade and investment and had declined an offer to chair PhilHealth. Prosecutor Erwin G. Matib confirmed the identity and offer, said he was unsure of the proposed October 2019 envoy date, and qualified the sequence of the offer with 'I believe so'; Del Rosario confirmed they were discussing the same person.

Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo asked how the Securities Regulation Code defines securities and asserted that the Constitution restricts a president's or vice president's participation in a company. SEC witness Gerardo F. del Rosario described securities as including shares and investment contracts; the record has no separately attributed answer to Tulfo's final constitutional question. In a later round, Tulfo asked about divestment and SEC reporting guidance, correction of corporate filings, and records showing whether a director voted, signed resolutions, or managed a company after assuming office. Del Rosario said the SEC has no guidelines to proactively flag such officials to other offices, affirmed that corporate secretaries ordinarily prepare filings, described correction by petition within the SEC's jurisdiction, and said the SEC has no routine records of those management acts unless submitted.

Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian questioned whether corporations associated with Vice President Sara Duterte and Manases Carpio could account for growth in her reported net worth, citing absent dividend information and losses. SEC witness Atty. Gerardo F. del Rosario said his summary did not establish any dividend declarations or income from those firms, confirmed Duterte was not a GenCorp shareholder of record, and explained that firms with deficit retained earnings cannot declare dividends. Gatchalian also asked how the SEC pursued overdue GIS and financial statements. Del Rosario described notices, violation monitoring, and possible registration revocation; he identified one company revoked for nonfiling and corrected Gatchalian that two others had voluntarily shortened their corporate terms. Gatchalian then observed that those firms also could not explain the net-worth increase, which Del Rosario affirmed.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan examined JTC Group of Companies' 54.99% stake in GenCorp and the control that majority ownership could confer. Atty. Gerardo F. del Rosario confirmed the stake, said beneficial ownership declarations are required but his department lacked JTC's form, and confirmed common shareholders and officers among GenCorp, City Hall King Chow Foods, and Metro City Chow Foods. Pangilinan proposed subpoenaing JTC's corporate records to identify its owners; Presiding Officer Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero took the proposal under advisement pending prosecution action, without granting a subpoena. Returning to the witness's summary, Pangilinan calculated about ₱2.159 billion in combined sales and questioned the absence of dividend declarations. Del Rosario offered expansion as a possible explanation; Pangilinan observed that nondeclaration alone did not establish illegality. Asked about restaurant franchises, Del Rosario said there were some but could not give a count.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked what SEC records show about consideration paid for shares, including any premium or additional paid-in capital, and how to reconcile a public official's SALN-declared corporate interest with absence from the GIS. She also pressed on indirect or nominee ownership and undeclared beneficial ownership. SEC witness Gerardo del Rosario said the incorporation records showed paid-up capital but no additional paid-in capital in the document examined; the SEC did not access SALNs for this purpose and he pointed to Ombudsman review. He identified beneficial-ownership declarations as the means to report ultimate owners and said SEC enforcement reviews nondisclosure and possible Anti-Dummy Law issues, without specifying a penalty in this case.

Sen. Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino asked what role Vice President Sara Duterte actually had in GenCorp: the prosecution confirmed that she listed it in her 2024 and 2025 SALNs as a stockholder, while the SEC witness confirmed she was absent from its GIS and said he could not establish her role. Defense counsel called an answer premature during the prosecution's presentation. Aquino suggested that GenCorp's corporate officers or others with direct knowledge could explain the interest, and left it to the prosecution to pursue that testimony; the prosecutor acknowledged that a SALN business interest might instead refer to a spouse or child. The exchange did not establish her actual role.

Sen. Joseph Victor "JV" G. Ejercito asked whether receiving no dividends removes a shareholder's financial interest, whether passive share ownership without management participation means continued engagement in a business, and whether an official's interest belongs in the GIS or SALN. SEC witness Gerardo del Rosario said dividend payments do not determine whether someone remains a shareholder: holding shares does, even when ownership is passive. He distinguished the corporation's GIS, prepared through its corporate secretary, from the official's personal SALN, where assets and liabilities should be accurately declared.

The chair allowed questioning on Del Rosario’s interpretation of a related legal provision, subject to his ability to answer, despite a prosecution scope objection.

After confirming the prosecution’s pretrial reservation of PhilGEPS documents, the chair allowed direct examination and told the defense it would have time to study the documents before cross-examination.

The chair directed circulation and photocopying of Sopeña’s documents, with later exhibit marking before the clerk and copies for both sides. The chair also granted the defense’s request to mark its corresponding copies.

On the defense’s motion, the chair struck prosecution counsel’s Google Maps distance assertion about the Bolton Street address.

On the prosecution’s judicial-notice motion, the chair took notice of the cited laws’ text, while reserving interpretation and application. He also noted prior SEC testimony that GenCorp records did not show the respondent as a stockholder or director and left assessment of that testimony to the senator-judges.

The defense reserved its objections to the PhilGEPS records and possible cross-examination while it studied the copies. Sopeña was asked to return September 28.

The proposed JTC-record subpoena remained under advisement pending prosecution action.

The court set September 23 for oral argument, senator-judge questions, and a planned vote on a pending motion or appeal concerning Sen. Erwin Tulfo.

Del Rosario on the dividend summaries: “Tama po. Wala pong informasyon kung nag-deklara sila ng dividendo.”

Del Rosario on JTC’s GenCorp entry: “Ayon po rito meron po siyang 54.99% ownership.”