A director of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Vice President Sara Duterte’s role in a company while remaining Vice President could be a possible violation of the Constitution, which prohibits her from participating in any business during her term.
Lawyer Gerardo del Rosario, director of the SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department, testified in the Vice President’s impeachment trial and cited records of the Metro City Chow Foods Corporation showing that for 2025, Duterte was a member of the Board of Directors and of the compensation committee.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian asked if this means Duterte had a direct participation in the management of the corporation.
Del Rosario replied that this was the case based on the report from the corporate secretary.
Gatchalian then asked if this is “possibly” a violation of Article 7, Section 13 of the Constitution, which prohibits the President, Vice-President, and members of the Cabinet from practicing any other profession or participating in any business, among others, to avoid a conflict of interest.
Del Rosario replied in the affirmative.
“Ang sinabi po kasi ay huwag ka magkaroon ng ibang opisina, you should not hold office, employment, at engage in other profession during the term of office, even to participate,” he said.
Asked if the SEC investigated this possible violation, he said it did not.
He also said the SEC has investigated violations of securities, but he has not encountered any SEC probe of an act by an official that may have violated the Constitution.
“Kung ang ibig po bang sabihin ng participation ay mag join ay may violation na, siguro po it’s the Senate po ang bahalang mag husga kung talagang merong violation,” he added, when pressed whether this was covered by the SEC’s mandate.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo asked if the SEC calls the attention of public officials who appear in SEC records as company officials to their violation, since they are barred from participating in business while holding public office.
Del Rosario said there are no guidelines or directives for the SEC to flag the officials who are involved in corporations while holding public office. But he also said that moving forward, it could issue reminders and raise awareness about the prohibition through video materials.
He said he would raise such a suggestion to the commission en banc.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo wondered why nobody from Duterte’s team told her that she had to divest from the businesses.
Tulfo also specifically asked the defense team what it would have advised her to do knowing that she was involved in numerous businesses.
Defense counsel Justin Gular declined to answer, saying it would be inappropriate to respond to a “hypothetical question” at this point.
Gular also noted that the counsels have been reminded not to tackle conclusions of law.
SEC records presented at Duterte’s impeachment trial showed that she was an incorporator of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation in 2016.
She became a member of the Board of Directors and of the compensation committee beginning in 2018 and retained the roles after she became Vice President in 2022.