HOUSE prosecutor Joel Chua on Wednesday asked whether or not GenCorp’s payments to Vice President Sara Duterte amounted to bribery, as the prosecution linked the disclosure made by her witness to 19 contracts with Davao City.
“Yan po ba ay suhol?” Chua asked at the prosecution panel’s November 11 noontime press conference.
The Manila 3rd District representative made the remark after defense witness Atty. Suzette Balucanag-Punay testified about payments she described as a return of capital from Duterte’s investment in the Jollibee Times Square branch.
Chua questioned the basis of these payments after the witness said she had not seen a written document establishing the underlying investment. Punay also said she was unable to verify its amount because she had no written records for the investment.
The prosecution connected this explanation to GenCorp’s government business. House trial spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong cited 19 contracts with Davao City, where Mayor Sebastian Duterte is the Vice President’s brother.
“So ito bang loose investment na ito kasama na dito yung kontrata?” Alonto Adiong asked. “Isa sa income nila is yung kontrata na napanalo nila sa Davao City,” he said.
Alonto Adiong argued the witness’s disclosure sharpened the prosecution’s conflict-of-interest allegation. He questioned whether the payments Duterte received were connected to income generated by the company’s city contracts.
The cited testimony did not identify any particular government contract proceeds as the source of a payment to Duterte. The connection was a question raised by the prosecution at the briefing.
Chua acknowledged gaps in the payment pattern and said the testimony raised “mas maraming tanong kesa po sagot” about the financial arrangement.
He also referred to Duterte’s 2024 and 2025 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, where she declared a business interest in GenCorp. Prosecutors argued the defense still needed to reconcile these declarations with its denial of GenCorp share ownership and the witness’s account of a branch investment.
They cited Article VII, Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution, which bars the Vice President from participating in business during tenure and from holding a financial interest in government contracts. The provision also requires executive officials to avoid conflicts of interest.
Alonto Adiong described the concern as the “conflict of interest na ina-allege po namin, laban po sa ating bise-presidente.”
metrosundaily
