Follow-Up: Day 42 of Sara Duterte's Trial: Defense Witness Confirms ₱2.14 Million in GenCorp Payments, Court to Subpoena Investment Records
The Philippine Senate impeachment court held its 42nd day of trial on November 11. Defense witness Suzette Balucanag-Punay, corporate counsel for GenCorp Industries Inc. and Metro City Chow Foods Corp., testified that Vice President Sara Duterte received a total of ₱2,142,369.14 from GenCorp between 2022 and 2025, with the payments rising each year to ₱636,700 in 2025. She described the money as a return of capital from an earlier investment linked to a Jollibee branch in Davao City, and maintained that Duterte held no shares in GenCorp and no position in the company.
Prosecutors welcomed the testimony. House prosecution spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong and others said the witness had confirmed the payments and thereby strengthened the unexplained-wealth case. Presiding Officer Francis Escudero said in open court that the court would subpoena the original records supporting the legality and basis of the payments. Under questioning, Punay could not produce the original investment record or explain why GenCorp had made payments on a contribution put in through another entity; she also agreed that such payments were income that should have been declared.
Escudero also ruled the same day that Punay cannot selectively invoke attorney-client privilege: the court presumed the two corporations had authorized her appearance and waived privilege at the corporate level, while clarifying that the presumed waiver does not automatically extend to individual shareholders she separately represents. Only Article II, the unexplained-wealth charge, remains in the impeachment case, and the defense presentation is meant to rebut the prosecution forensic report on Duterte's finances; the court has not decided the article.
Source: Senate Impeachment Court of the Philippines
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：菲律宾副总统莎拉·杜特尔特的官方肖像。照片：菲律宾副总统办公室，公共领域，经维基共享资源 / Official portrait of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte. Photo by the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
