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Vice President Sara Duterte is contradicting herself by denying that she owns a Jollibee franchise through GenCorp. Industries, Inc., a firm that she declared as one of her business interests in her 2022 and 2023 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro said.
“We should remember that it was the respondent herself who made her own admission that she is a shareholder of GenCorp. Industries Incorporated. Kita-kita natin lahat. [We all saw her SALN declarations.] I wish to reiterate the jurisprudence which I shared already before the honorable impeachment court, that the court gives more weight to admissions made by public officials,” Luistro said in a press conference.
“It throws [the burden] to the public official to show that that admission is a mistake. [And] as far as we can remember, never pa niya dinispute ‘yung SALN na iyon. Never pa niya dinispute na shareholder talaga siya ng GenCorp Industries Incorporated. If at all, she is saying that ownership of shares does not mean ownership of franchise, that will be for me completely contradictory. You cannot operate Jollibee, unless you are a franchise holder,” Luistro said.
(She never disputed her SALN entries and she never disputed that she is a shareholder of GenCorp.)
Duterte’s shares in GenCorp. is one of the subjects in the unexplained wealth impeachment case against her before the Senate impeachment court, with prosecution witness, lawyer and forensic financial analyst Alex Cabrera testifying that part of the Vice President’s unexplained wealth ranging from P817 million to P1.5 billion is her non-declaration of assets from her shareholding in GenCorp.
Cabrera made the conclusion after a forensic investigation into her joint SALN with her husband, Manases Carpio, as well as the spouses tax, bank deposit, bank transaction and business interests records.
Luistro then called on the Vice President to present her defense before the impeachment court, particularly if she means she is contradicting her own SALN entries that she submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.
“It would be better for her to address these squarely before the impeachment court, so that all her representations will be considered as testimony in court. I think she needs to address her own admission in the SALN,” Luistro said.
“Iyong SALN, hindi naman prosecution ang gumawa. It was the respondent's own admission under oath and it was her own submission as well. We are just relying on her own admission,” Luistro added.
(The prosecution did not make her SALN.) — Reuters