Why did Duterte list Gencorp in SALN? Too precious to lose – witness Cabrera

MANILA, Philippines — Food company GenCorp Industries Inc. remained part of Vice President Sara Duterte’s business interests under her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) — even if the firm does not list her as an incorporator — because it is too precious to lose.

This is was a witness at Duterte’s impeachment trial on Friday said.

Public prosecutor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno asked their witness – financial forensic analyst Atty. Alexander Cabrera – what could have been the reason why Duterte still listed Gencorp in her SALN, even if her name is absent from the company’s General Information Sheet (GIS).

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According to Cabrera, Gencorp is quite important because it has several branches of local fast food company Jollibee — noting that a single franchise alone can already be worth upwards of P30 million.

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“Honorable Diokno, the reason why I think VP Sara included Gencorp in her SALN is because Gencorp is very, very important. It has a huge value,” Cabrera revealed.

“Because within Gencorp is at least five Jollibee branches,” the financial forensic analyst disclosed.

When asked why Cabrera arrived at the conclusion that there are several Jolibee branches under Gencorp, the witness said that they checked several documents that showed Gencorp’s name above it.

These documents include official receipts after purchase from Jollibee branches in Davao City.

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“Part of the documents we got from the prosecution are official receipts, and these official receipts state purchases from Jollibee, different branches of Jollibee, owned by Gencorp,” Cabrera pointed out.

Among the issues noted during the discussions for Article II of the Articles of Impeachment is Gencorp’s presence in Duterte’s SALN as a business interest, and her name’s absence in the company’s GIS.

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READ: Sara Duterte trial: SEC docs show SALN, corporate record discrepancies

Initially, Diokno also asked Cabrera what could be the reason why Gencorp decided to drop Duterte from its list of incorporators. 

According to Cabrera, this may be meant to evade suspicion as the company entered into contracts with the Davao City government — the Dutertes’ home city.

Davao City is currently under Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, younger brother of the vice president. 

Previously, Mayor Duterte was called by the prosecution as a hostile witness for Article II on the alleged unexplained wealth.

“I was able to watch the hearing the previous week where Mayor Baste of the City of Davao testified.  And he said that Gencorp has contracts there amounting to 15, or even 19,” Cabrera said.

“If VP Sara is named and listed in the GIS of Gencorp, Gencorp cannot get any contracts from the City of Davao. That’s not allowed due to conflict of interest,” the financial forensic analyst explained.

READ: Baste Duterte quizzed over gov’t deals with Sara Duterte-linked firm

Cabrera was presented by the prosecution as he analyzed Duterte’s financial transactions. 

According to the witness, Duterte did not declare the following cash amounts as part of her assets from 2022 to 2025:

• P60,214,776 for 2022
• P80,701,151 for 2023
• P23,169,077 for 2024
• P43,611,929 for 2025

Cabrera did not provide a total for the four figures, but a quick math would show that the sum is at more than P207 million (P207,696,933).

READ: Analyst: VP Duterte didn’t declare P207-M cash, total assets reach P817M

Aside from this, the table presented by Cabrera showed that the total undeclared amount from 2022 to 2025 was at over P817 million (P817,874,867). 

However, the witness has yet to explain how he arrived at this position, as of posting time.

According to the financial forensic analyst, they were able to arrive at this number by matching the declared cash assets in Duterte’s SALN, and the year-end balances of the bank accounts under Duterte, Carpio, and their joint bank accounts.

READ: VP Duterte’s total unexplained wealth at P817.87M – witness’ report

Discussions on Article II started with the legal framework of unexplained wealth, but by October, the focus had shifted to Duterte’s bank accounts.

This turn developed after the prosecution presented Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura as its witness last Monday and Tuesday.

Buenaventura confirmed before the Senate Impeachment Court that they have, indeed, flagged several transactions involving Duterte and her relatives worth P4.4 billion. 

At one point, Buenaventura testified that Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had made P193 million worth of unique bank transactions in just one day — on March 28, 2014.

At one point during the trial, Buenaventura was asked by Escudero whether even an “absurd possibility” of totaling all of Duterte’s net worth from 2007 to 2025 can even make sense of the P4.4 billion transactions, even if this should not be the case.

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Buenaventura, in response, said he also cannot explain how the transactions happened. /apl