ASEANEWS HEADLINE-VP DU30 IMPEACHMENT 10.6.26 DAY #34 | MANILA: Hontiveros: China ‘state firms’ among Cale88 funders

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MANILA, Philippines — Some of the Chinese firms that sent a total of P319.32 million to Cale88 Foods Corp., a company linked to Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, are Chinese state-owned enterprises, Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros told the impeachment court on Tuesday.

Hontiveros put this on record even as Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified that, based on the council’s records, the remittances went to Cale88, not directly to Duterte or Carpio, and it was not established whether the funds came from the Chinese government.

Buenaventura also said the AMLC tabulations reflected reported transactions and were not conclusive proof of Duterte’s cash holdings, wealth or alleged unexplained or ill-gotten wealth.

READ: AMLC docs show VP Duterte-linked company transacted with Chinese firms

Carpio was previously identified as an incorporator, stockholder and board member of Cale88, a Davao-based manufacturer and exporter of banana chips. Company records cited in the proceedings show that Carpio held a 40-percent to 47.5-percent stake between 2021 and 2024 before divesting in 2025.

Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV earlier said the company explicitly listed having no rank-and-file employees. But between 2023 and 2026, the company logged P208 million to P217.3 million in sales.

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Cale88 was established in September 2021 and started as a small family business producing banana chips for the domestic and export markets. It later marketed Filipino snacks under the “Yu Mei Brand” in Chinese retail distribution.

Prosecutors have raised questions over the disparity between the company’s reported business activity and its financial transactions. Cale88 had paid-up capital of P125,000, while AMLC records showed P319.32 million in inward remittances from mainland China and Hong Kong.

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On Day 34 of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Hontiveros asked Buenaventura whether the AMLC was investigating how Cale88 received funds from Chinese state-owned enterprises.

Buenaventura said he could not answer beyond documents covered by the impeachment court’s subpoena.

“Your Honor, I’m unable to answer that,” he said, citing the AMLC’s summary report, financial investigation report on Carpio and confidential information-sharing documents.

Hontiveros then disclosed research by her office into China- and Hong Kong-based companies identified in AMLC records as having sent funds to Cale88.

One was China National Township Enterprises Co. Ltd. (CNTEC), which Hontiveros said had previously been directly under China’s Ministry of Agriculture and later became a state-owned agricultural enterprise under the supervision of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

CNTEC’s own corporate profile describes it as an agricultural international trading company dealing in seafood, agricultural products and feed raw materials. It was established in 1983 with 10 million yuan (roughly P94 million) initial investment and incorporated into China National Agricultural Development Group Co. Ltd. in 1999.

Hontiveros said CNTEC’s public profile also states that it is committed to supporting the implementation of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and foreign policy.

She also identified Beijing Jianweifang Food Co., a Beijing-based nut and nut-oil company, which she said is owned by Xinjiang Fruit Industry Group. Hontiveros said her office’s research showed that Xinjiang Fruit was a Series A investor in the company and that the two had a strategic cooperation agreement dating to 2019.

“Xinjiang Fruit Industry Group is not an ordinary company. It is a Chinese state-owned enterprise,” she said, noting that its corporate structure includes an institutional Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization, a party committee and subordinate committees.

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AMLC records

Hontiveros also said the chair of Beijing Jianweifang appeared to be a member of a district Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), citing a US economic and security report that said CPPCC delegates can serve as interlocutors for the CCP interests with foreign officials, businesses and academics.

She asked whether the links were being examined by the AMLC and whether they should be considered a cause for concern.

Buenaventura said he took note of her remarks and would review the information.

Anti-Money Laundering Council executive director Ronel Buenaventura takes his oath as a prosecution witness during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate on October 5, 2026./ Senate Pool

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Defense counsel Mark Vinluan then sought to establish what the AMLC records actually showed about the P319.32 million in transactions involving Cale88.

Vinluan asked whether the records indicated that the China-based entities that transacted with Cale88 were illegitimate.

“No, Your Honor, there’s nothing in the records,” Buenaventura replied.

He likewise said the AMLC had no records showing that the P319.32 million received by Cale88 came from the Chinese government.

The AMLC’s tabular summaries put the foreign remittances from China to Cale88 at P319,326,770.41.

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The figure matched the amount cited by Trillanes at an Oct. 2 press conference after he was dropped as a prosecution witness. Trillanes alleged that Chinese entities sent the money to Cale88 in tranches between 2023 and 2025.

Outside the impeachment court, Duterte’s spokesperson Paolo Panelo Jr. questioned how Trillanes obtained the transaction information.

“If anything was confirmed, it is only that Trillanes obtained his information illegally in violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and bank secrecy laws,” Panelo said.

He added that the AMLC executive director had testified only about covered and suspicious transaction reports submitted by banks and had not established that funds attributed to Duterte were illegally sourced, concealed or belonged to her.

 

Wealth questioned

At the Oct. 2 press conference, Trillanes also alleged that Duterte’s Tapang at Malasakit Foundation received P150 million from China and that Duterte had unreported peso and dollar time deposits in 2007 and 2008.

The evidentiary value of the AMLC records also surfaced during Buenaventura’s cross-examination.

Vinluan asked whether the aggregated amounts in Buenaventura’s tabular summaries constituted conclusive proof of Duterte’s cash on hand or cash in bank.

Buenaventura said he could only attest that the tabulations reflected reported transactions based on AMLC records.

Asked whether the summaries constituted conclusive proof of Duterte’s alleged unexplained and ill-gotten wealth, Buenaventura again limited his testimony to the records before him. He said he had no personal knowledge of Duterte’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

The AMLC official also said Cale88’s P776 million in reported inflows could serve as a starting point for a possible money-laundering investigation, but stressed that further investigation would be necessary.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian questioned the discrepancy between the P776 million in inflows and Cale88’s available financial statements.

He noted that Cale88 had paid-up capital of P125,000, cumulative sales of about P23 million since 2021, P18 million in assets and P20 million in liabilities, while AMLC records reflected P776 million in inflows and P154 million in outflows.

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Asked whether the unexplained inflow could make Cale88 a candidate for money laundering, Buenaventura said it could be a starting point but that investigators would have to consider other factors.

He said the AMLC would need to determine the source of the money and establish whether it was connected to unlawful activity.

Buenaventura also declined to definitively characterize the P776 million as a suspicious transaction, saying the nature of the business and other circumstances would have to be considered.

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Bank discrepancy

Meanwhile, Senator-judge Vicente Sotto III questioned a reported correction involving Carpio-related bank transactions.

Buenaventura confirmed that the AMLC approved Bank of the Philippine Islands’ request to delete 13 erroneous covered transaction reports after validating the bank’s claim that a reporting error had occurred.

The discrepancy involved a reported P6.7 billion in 630 covered and 33 suspicious transactions involving Carpio’s account, including a P2-billion figure later corrected to P2 million.

Senator-judge Bam Aquino asked whether the AMLC continued to pursue cases independently of the impeachment proceedings.

Buenaventura said the council had filed more than 10 cases with the Ombudsman or Department of Justice this year. —With reports from Zacarian Sarao, Isabelle Pechay, Gabriel Pabico Lalu and Inquirer Research

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