10 of 18 firms linked to VP Duterte, husband paid no dividends – witness

MANILA, Philippines—Ten of 18 companies linked to Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband had no declared dividends, according to a prosecution witness, citing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records.

In his offer of SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department Director Gerardo del Rosario’s testimony, private prosecutor Erwin Matib mentioned a list of companies or businesses allegedly owned by Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio.

READ: SEC records: Sara Duterte stayed company director after becoming VP

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Of the 18, however, the witness identified the following as having “no dividends” declarations:

1. Metro City Chow Foods Corporation
2. Gencorp Industries Inc.
3. City Hall King Chow
4. Cale 88 Food Corporation
5. Mati City Ice Plant and Cold Storage
6. Geometry Security and Investigation Agency Inc.
7. Great Jolly Times Food Corporation
8. Timesquare Bee Foods Corporation
9. Davao New Royal Taipan Foods Corporation
10. Davao Emerging Taipans Corporation

Meanwhile, the following had no Audited Financial Statements (AFS) filed with the SEC:

1. 3Kids Trucking Services Inc.
2. CYK&T Davao Corporation
3. SGT Fortune Horse Corporation
4. Davao Bounty Times
5. Madayaw Fisheries Inc.
6. Amianan Shores Inc.
7. Cabletow 88 Shipping and Marine Services Inc.
8. Carpio Lawyers

Defense lawyer Justin Nicol Gular repeatedly objected to the prosecution’s visual presentation of the summary of companies with “no dividends” declarations, as it included those that had no AFS submission.

According to Gular, the visuals being presented by the prosecutor were not only misleading and unreliable “but were misrepresentative of the records identified by the witness.”

“This is unfair, your honor, to the respondent vice president because in the first place, those visuals had already been flashed to the general public who are listening to us,” Gular said.

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“Secondly, Your Honor, the questions propounded by the counsel and the witness’ answers thereto have already been heard. But it’s already clear now that these were inaccurate and misrepresentative,” he added.

The defense lawyer then moved to have the visuals, as well as the prosecution’s questions, stricken from the record.

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Matib denied the defense lawyer’s accusations.

“May I respond to that considering that the accusations are very heavy?” the prosecutor said. “We are not misrepresenting anything, Your Honor. Besides, we did not proceed with displaying the visuals after the presiding officer’s clarification.”

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Duterte has been accused of amassing unexplained wealth, failing to disclose all her and her husband’s assets in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, and also failing to divest all her business interests during her tenure as vice president. /mcm