Luistro: VP Sara-declared firm got P35-M in gov’t contracts

By Jose Cielito Reganit

MANILA – Vice President Sara Z. Duterte declared herself a shareholder of GenCorp Industries Inc., which allegedly received PHP35.9 million in government contracts, while serving as Vice President, House lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday.

Luistro underscored Duterte’s own declaration after Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) Division Chief Rendell Sopeña testified that GenCorp secured 49 government contracts worth a combined PHP35,878,188 during Duterte’s vice presidency.

The contracts came from three government entities, with the bulk awarded by the Davao City government.

Sopeña said Davao City awarded GenCorp 15 contracts worth PHP34,216,900, while the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Region XI awarded 33 contracts totaling PHP1,331,288. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Region XI (Davao Region) awarded the company one contract worth PHP330,000.

At the close of Sopeña’s direct examination, Luistro moved to connect the procurement records to Duterte’s own wealth declarations and the prosecution’s allegation that she failed to divest herself of business and financial interests.

Luistro asked the impeachment court to take mandatory judicial notice of Duterte’s 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), which were previously presented in court by an Office of the Ombudsman official.

She said Duterte herself identified GenCorp in her SALNs and declared that she was a shareholder of the company, with the interest acquired in 2013.

“The admission came from the respondent herself,” Luistro stressed.

Luistro then invoked Article VII, Section 13 of the Constitution, which prohibits the President, Vice President, and other specified executive officials from participating in any business or being financially interested in any government contract during their tenure.

She said the combination of Duterte’s SALN declaration and the PhilGEPS records was relevant to the non-divestment allegation under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment.

“Please be reminded that the last subsection of Article II of the Articles of Impeachment on unexplained wealth is non-divestment of other business and financial interests,” Luistro told the court.

Sopeña said PhilGEPS uncovered the 49 contracts after his office searched its procurement repository in compliance with a subpoena issued by the impeachment court.

The search yielded 231 procurement documents totaling 484 pages, including requests for quotation, invitations to bid, notices of award, Bids and Awards Committee resolutions, notices to proceed and agreements.

Among the individual Davao City contracts identified during Sopeña’s testimony were awards worth PHP5,143,500, PHP6,277,500, and PHP8.4 million.

Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero clarified during the proceedings that the transactions presented by the prosecution took place while Duterte was already serving as Vice President.

“All of these bids and awards by the City of Davao, by OWWA and PhilHealth, all of these happened during the term of the respondent as Vice President. Do you confirm, Honorable Luistro?” Escudero asked.

“We confirm, Your Honor,” Luistro replied.

Defense counsel Robie Batungbacal stressed, however, that the Davao City contracts were awarded when Duterte was no longer the city’s mayor.

Luistro also asked the court to take judicial notice of provisions of Republic Act No. 12009, or the New Government Procurement Act, concerning the head of the procuring entity (HoPE).

Under RA 12009, the local chief executive is the HoPE for a local government unit.

Luistro then asked the court to take judicial notice that Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, the Vice President’s brother, is the city’s local chief executive and HoPE.

Baste Duterte is expected to take the witness stand for the prosecution next week after the impeachment court ordered the issuance of a subpoena for him at the prosecution’s request.

Prosecutors have said they intend to question him about GenCorp and its transactions with the Davao City government and would seek to have him treated as a hostile witness.

The defense objected to Luistro’s request for judicial notice, arguing that the prosecution was asking the court to recognize matters that were not proper subjects of mandatory judicial notice.

Escudero granted the request only in part.

He said the court would recognize that GenCorp was mentioned in Duterte’s SALNs and would take judicial notice of the laws cited by Luistro, but stressed that doing so did not mean accepting the prosecution’s interpretation or application of those laws.

“The Chair takes judicial notice of the laws cited… but not as to the interpretation, meaning, nor application of those laws, according to the view of one party, only as to what the laws actually state,” Escudero said.

He also put on record an apparent discrepancy between Duterte’s SALN declaration and the corporate records previously presented before the impeachment court.

He noted that while GenCorp was mentioned in Duterte’s SALNs, the prosecution’s earlier witness from the Securities and Exchange Commission testified that the company’s corporate records presented in court did not show Duterte as a stockholder or director.

“We take notice of that as well because it was equally testified to in court, and let the senator-judges peruse, evaluate, and weigh the testimony of those witnesses,” Escudero said.

Luistro ended her direct examination of Sopeña following the ruling. Sopeña is expected to return to the witness stand next week for cross-examination by Duterte’s defense team. (PNA)