Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo INQUIRER FILE
MANILA, Philippines — The witness was either “not ready” or “nagmamaang-maangan” (playing dumb) for failing to fully explain the P2 million allegedly received by Vice President Sara Duterte from GenCorp Industries Inc., Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo said on Wednesday.
Tulfo made the remark during the Senate impeachment trial after defense witness and lawyer Suzette Balucanag-Punay revealed that the vice president received a total of P2,142,369.14 as a supposed “return of capital.”
According to Balucanag-Punay, in-house corporate counsel of GenCorp, Duterte is not listed as a shareholder of the company but has a “loose investment” in one of the Jollibee branches owned and operated by GenCorp.
She said Duterte’s “loose investment” in the Jollibee Times Square branch dates back to when it was supposed to be operated by Davao Bounty Times Food Corp.
This “loose investment” was then carried over to Great Jolly Times then to Time Square Bee Foods Corp. to GenCorp when these companies acquired the branch.
The witness also testified that Duterte received P337,500 in 2022; P555,750 in 2023; P612,419.14 in 2024; and P636,700 in 2025; hence the P2.1 million total of “return of capital.”
However, during the cross examination of prosecution counsel Lorna Kapunan, the articles of incorporation of Davao Bounty Times Food Corp. showed that Duterte only had a paid up capital of P46,875 only, with a subscribed amount of P187,500.
Asked to explain why the supposed “return of capital”–-which was understood to be just giving back the initial investment as opposed to “return on capital” which was understood as profit for the investment made—reached more than P2 million, the witness said she cannot find other documents to explain the nature of the supposed investments.
“Kanina pa ho ako nagtataka, alam naman niya bakit siya kinuhang witness today para sa unexplained wealth ni VP Sara, for her to explain the unexplainable, and yet marami siyang hindi alam,” Tulfo said.
(I have been wondering about this for a while. She knows why she was called as a witness today—to address Vice President Sara Duterte’s unexplained wealth and explain the unexplainable—yet there are so many things she does not know.)
According to Tulfo, the witness could have asked GenCorp to explain and check whether it was a return of or return on investment.
“It seems to me, fifteen years kang abogado, mukhang hindi ka pa ready, or nagmamaang-maangan lang po kayo,” the senator-judge said further.
(It seems to me that despite being a lawyer for 15 years, you are not ready, or you are just playing dumb.)
Balucanag-Punay was presented to debunk the prosecution’s claim that Duterte did not divest her business interests during her tenure as vice president.
This allegation forms part of Article II which also alleges that Duterte amassed unexplained wealth and did not fully or truthfully disclose all her assets, liabilities, and net worth on her Statements of Assets Liabilities and Net worth.