Rendell Sopena, PhilGEPS division head, testifying before the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Photo by Voltaire F. Domingo / Senate Social Media Unit
Manuel Mogato | September 22, 2026
MANILA — Three Davao City-based government agencies have awarded at least 49 contracts to Vice President Sara Duterte’s restaurant from 2022 to 2026 while she was in office, a violation of the Constitution.
Lead prosecutor, Congresswoman Jinky Luistro, called an official from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) to testify a potential conflict of interest when the vice president’s company was awarded contracts from an agency headed by her brother.
Rendell Sopena, PhilGEPS division head, told the Senate impeachment court that a Jollibee fast food branch on Bolton Street in Davao City won 49 contracts worth more than 35 million from 2022 to 2026.
Jollibee, a popular homegrown fast-food chain, has a franchise in Davao City and is owned by a company, GenCorp Industries Inc., whose majority shares are controlled by Jaime T. Cruz.
Cruz was a close friend of the Dutertes. During Rodrigo Duterte’s term as president from 2016 to 2022, Cruz served as a special envoy to the People’s Republic of China.
However, the vice president said she owned shares in GenCorp Industries, based on her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN). (Also read: Prosecution presents expert witness on anti-corruption laws)
Another witness, Gerard del Rosario of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has told the impeachment court that Sara Duterte’s name does not appear as a shareholder in GenCorp Industries Inc.
He speculated that the vice president may have a trust agreement or assigned a nominee to hold her shares but did not report it to the commission.
He said the vice president could have violated the law for concealing her ownership, which she had declared in her SALN.
Luistro said the vice president also violated the 1987 Constitution after she failed to divest her interests in some companies when she was elected in 2022.
She said the offense is a culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust and could remove her from office and bar her from seeking any public office.
During direct examination, Sopena said Duterte’s GenCorp Industries Inc. secured a contract from the Office of Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Region 11 for more than 300,000 pesos.
It also won eight contracts worth more than 1 million pesos from the Philippine Health Insurance Office in Davao City.
The bulk of the contract, worth more than 34 million pesos was awarded by the Davao City government to GenCorp Industries Inc.
Luistro said the Davao City government is headed by the vice president’s younger brother, Sebastian, as mayor, a clear case of conflict of interest.
Duterte’s trial will resume next week when the Senate impeachment court summons Sebastian to testify in his sister’s impeachment.
Earlier, an official from the anti-corruption agency, the Ombudsman, testified that the vice president and her husband’s wealth, based on her SALN from 2007 to 2025, grew from only 7 million pesos to 98 million pesos.
However, prosecutors said her bank records showed the couple had billions of pesos deposited in several banks, and her tax payments also did not match her income.