by Diego Morra
The September 22 hearing at the Senate impeachment court showed just how little respect Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio has for the law, the 1987 Constitution, he regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Republic of the Philippines. This became more evident after SEC documents proved that she did not divest from any of the corporations in which she held stocks and held positions as director from 2022 to 2025, when she was, by law compelled to divest having been elected, unfortunately at that, as vice president.
Section 13, Article 7 of the 1987 Constitution says divestment is mandatory before she assumes office as vice president inasmuch as the Basic Law does not contemplate conflicts of interest by the President and Vice President, both of whom are barred from engaging in business or working in other jobs. Ignorance of the law excuses no one, and Sara did commit a fatal act when she stayed on as stockholder and director of franchised fastfood chains and maintained her role as stockholder of GenCorp Industries which, as her brother Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte admitted, had 19 contracts with the Davao City government. He admitted that the contracts were worth P33-million rather than P18-million, fortifying the claim that Sara was active in self-dealing.
It is no longer relevant if the GenCorp projects passed muster the PhilGEPS, a platform that was organized to reduce grifting, nepotism and the illegal awards of projects to the nominees, assigns and special interests close to the Dutertes. It has been a pain in the neck for PhilGEPS to admit that the war against self-dealing by political dynasties has not been won. More than 60% of the firms registered with PhilGEPS are linked to these dynasties, political warlords and bureaucrat capitalists. The Dutertes have no truck with PhilGEPS or the Procurement Law that apparently do matter to them in their fiefdom.
“Malinaw naman sa batas na mayroong prohibition at dapat sana alam niya bilang mataas na opisyal ng gobyerno na pinanumpaan niya nung siya ay nagswear to act as Vice President na yun ang kaniyang limitasyon. Kaya dapat sana bago siya nanumpa, tinanggal na niya o nagdivest na siya,” explained SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department (CRMD) Director Gerardo Fernando del Rosario. To show her gumption, Sara acted as director of Metro City Chow Foods Corp. from 2016 to 2025, even as took her oath of office as vice president on June 30, 2022 and swore to abide by the 1987 Constitution, obey the law and do justice to every citizen. To extricate Sara from the glaring violation of the 1987 Constitution, defense Justin Gular anchored his argument that the same Constitutional provision does not prohibit any public official from having shares in a company, saying that Republic Act 6713 (RA 6713) or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, states that “conflict of interest arises when a public official or employee is a member of the board, an officer, or a substantial stockholder of a private corporation or owner or has a substantial interest in a business.”
When Sara acted as director, shareholder and officer of any of the 18 corporations where she has interest, she was surely participating in business and could be given a pass for not doing what the law said he was compelled to do, which is to divest and obviate any possible conflict of interest. Gular was certainly trying to wiggle Sara out of her predicament but it was a futile attempt inasmuch as Sara has shown little respect for the impeachment proceedings, the courts, the police and ever her own handpicked bodyguards. She fears crowds, which means she needs hundreds of bodyguards as her “hawi” boys, and belies her suddenly materializing empathy.
With the garrulous Baste helping the prosecution’s case by raising the value of contracts with Gencorp, the impeachment court then saw an opening to dig deeper into the Duterte business scheme in Davao City, Mati and even in Manila, where a security agency was organized by Sara when she was already serving as vice president. The name of businessman Jaime T. Cruz cropped up as he was either incorporator, director, or shareholder of at least six firms tied to Sara and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio. His closeness to Rodrigo Duterte was evident when he was named the country’s special envoy for trade and investment in China in 2019, three years after Chinese interests supported Digong’s presidential campaign.
In the same year, a media outlet tagged Cruz as a prominent fixture in companies in which individual members of the Duterte family have financial interests. These same enterprises were included in the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) of the Dutertes. Senators wondered why Sara was so negligent as to include in her SALNs the corporate assets that she should be parted with in the first place. It is Sara’s second nature not to follow the rules. The culture of entitlement and impunity inculcated among the Duterte children made it illegal for them to be questioned. With them in charge, common sense is doomed.
Thanks to Baste, the trial had a very comic relief. Baste declared that he and the other city government officials and employees were not aware of Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio’s alleged links to GenCorp Industries Inc. So common knowledge escaped them. Baste even corrected the prosecution’s figures, saying the city government’s transactions with GenCorp reached over P33.2 million across 19 contracts. How come the enterprise always beats competitors? Does it always mean that it always submits the best offer? Or does GenCorp have an inside track on the goings-on in the awards panel? Funniest of all, Baste and the thousands of city hall employees never knew that Sara held an interest in GenCorp. Even if you use a water cannon, the claims still won’t wash.#