SEC witness says VP Sara ‘list of companies’ came from House

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official Atty. Gerardo Del Rosario told the impeachment court Tuesday that the list of companies which he presented shareholdings on came from the request of the House of Representatives.

As part of the direct examination of the prosecution panel on Monday, 21 September, Del Rosario authenticated summaries which his office had created on business information related to the companies linked to Duterte and her husband Atty. Manases Carpio.

The said documents contained information gathered from the articles of incorporation and general information sheet of 18 different companies wherein the Duterte-Carpio couple had shares.

It was likewise confirmed that the same reports were first furnished to the House Committee on Justice which had conducted impeachment proceedings related to the complaints filed against Duterte.

Defense lawyer Atty. Justin Gular pointed out that the SEC, as an office, did not have access to the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) of the Vice President or any other public official.

With a confirmation coming from Del Rosario, Gular further stated that the agency had no way of knowing whether the companies that were requested were contained in Duterte’s SALNs.

The official from the SEC likewise answered in the affirmative when the defense lawyer asked that the information that was prepared relied solely on the House and that the former’s testimony was limited.

Del Rosario had previously attested that the companies listed had not declared any dividends–an amount that was provided to shareholders of a company.

Duterte, for her part, was identified as having shares in the corporations, even serving as a member of the board of directors and executive committee in some companies such as the City Hall King Chow Foods Corporation.

It was noted in the summaries that the Vice President had paid for her “subscriptions” in the companies even after assuming office in 2022.

Defense questions document preparation

Aside from questioning the companies which he had prepared, Gular further challenged how the Company Registration and Monitoring Department (CRMD) was able to track voluminous documents related to the companies in such a short time.

Confronted with the request of the prosecution panel, Del Rosario said that he had received the request on 11 September while the same was completed on 14 September.

Del Rosario, who serves as the director of the CRMD, said that there were five people that worked on the preparation of the documents.

The lawyer recalled the stipulation of the prosecution panel that there were 200 exhibits which contained 3,000 pages.

“Now, it only took you three days for your team of five people to make these documents?” Gular asked.

“That is correct,” the witness answered.

“It includes the process of examination of documents, inputting and typing of data, and review between the documents, and the figures appearing therein, and those appearing on the summaries that you prepared,” the defense lawyer pressed.

Del Rosario again answered in the affirmative.