[Vantage Point] Follow VP Sara’s money, not her alibis

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(1st UPDATE) Vice President Sara Duterte need not personally own a restaurant counter for her financial relationship with its operator to warrant scrutiny

Vice President Sara Duterte’s denial of franchise ownership leaves the central questions unanswered: why Gencorp paid her more than P2.14 million, what financial interest she retained, and how that interest fits with the company’s government contracts. Her explanations must withstand scrutiny against the records.

Leaving a politician’s name off a shareholder list does not make corporate checks cut in their favor any less suspect.

In Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, the defense panel’s own explanation for payments coming out of Gencorp Industries Inc. (Gencorp) creates a contradiction no amount of legal hair-splitting can smooth over: if she owned no shares, held no office, and had no hand in the company, what financial right entitled her to pocket more than P2.14 million of its cash?

Duterte’s public response makes that question harder to dismiss. In October, she denied owning a Jollibee franchise and accused Rappler of disinformation. But her statement also acknowledged a previous investment in a company within a legitimate business organization. Her denial concerned direct franchise ownership; it did not establish that she had extinguished every financial interest connected to the business.

There is a valid corporate principle here. Shareholders do not personally own a corporation’s individual properties or contracts; the corporation has a separate legal personality.

Duterte could therefore distinguish an investment in a company from personal ownership of its franchises. But that distinction cannot answer the separate question of whether she retained a financial interest relevant to constitutional restrictions on the Vice President.

At the Wednesday, November 11 hearing, Gencorp counsel Suzette Balucanag-Punay testified that Duterte was neither a shareholder nor a corporate officer during 2022–2025. She nevertheless acknowledged disbursements totaling P2,142,369.14: P337,500 in 2022, P555,750 in 2023, P612,419.14 in 2024 and P636,700 in 2025.

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