THE House prosecution panel on Monday offered the testimony of the executive director of Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive (AMLC) to establish that ₱319 million from companies in China was allegedly remitted to Cale88 Foods Corporation, a company in which Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s husband allegedly holds a 47.5-percent interest.
Private prosecutor Atty. Mae S. Divinagracia offered to the Senate sitting as an impeachment court testimony of Atty. Ronel U. Buenaventura to suppport Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses the Vice President of having amassed ill-gottten wealth and not being truthful in her declarations in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).
Divinagracia identified the China remittances while formally stating the matters that the prosecution intends to prove through Buenaventura before the Senate Impeachment Court.
“Money from China poured into a food manufacturing company of her husband,” Divinagracia said.
Buenaventura had not yet testified on the substance, context or basis of the Cale88 transactions during this portion of the proceeding.
In her offer of testimony, Divinagracia told the court that Cale88 Foods Corporation was established in 2021 and that Manases Carpio, Duterte’s husband, holds 47.5 percent of its shares.
“Ang Cale88 Foods Corporation, na itinatag lamang noong 2021 at 47.5 percent ng shares ay hawak ni Atty. Carpio, ay tumanggap ng ₱319 million na remittance mula sa mga kumpanya sa China,” she said.
The prosecutor said three of the remittances had been reported by a bank as suspicious.
“Tatlo rito ang iniulat ng bangko bilang kahina-hinala: walang legal or trade obligation, walang layunin, at walang katwirang pang-ekonomiya,” Divinagracia said.
The offer did not identify the companies that sent the remittances, the dates and individual amounts of the transactions or their stated commercial purpose.
It also did not say that the money entered Carpio’s personal bank accounts.
Those details remained among the matters that the prosecution intended to establish through Buenaventura and the AMLC records during direct examination.
Divinagracia placed the ₱319-million Cale88 figure within a corporate record that the prosecution also intends to present through the AMLC executive.
“Their companies moved billions more,” she said.
The prosecutor stated that from 2022 to 2025, nearly ₱4.5 billion was recorded as entering and leaving 15 corporations in which Duterte and Carpio allegedly had interests.
“Mula 2022 hanggang 2025, halos ₱4.5 billion ang kabuuang pumasok at lumabas sa 15 korporasyon kung saan may interes ang mag-asawa,” Divinagracia said.
She described that amount as separate from the ₱4.4 billion in transactions that the prosecution said involved Duterte and Carpio directly from 2007 to 2025.
Divinagracia said at least ₱1.6 billion flowed into the couple’s accounts, at least ₱1.3 billion flowed out and another ₱1.4 billion could not be classified as either an inflow or outflow.
She said the amounts were based only on covered and suspicious transaction reports submitted to AMLC.
Divinagracia also said the ₱4.4-billion aggregate remained after the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) corrected what she described as an error in its reporting system.
She said AMLC had earlier reported ₱6.77 billion to the House in April 2026.
The Cale88 remittances were the seventh of 11 subjects listed in the offer.
Other proposed subjects included ₱41 million in cash transactions attributed to Carpio on August 6, 2024; checks totaling ₱14,881,692 that allegedly named Duterte as beneficiary; and repeated reports filed concerning the couple.
Divinagracia said Duterte’s file contained 34 suspicious transaction reports.
She also cited 27 derogatory reports concerning Duterte and 17 concerning Carpio, with reported categories that included graft and corrupt practices, malversation of public funds, possible drug links and transactions connected to alleged flood-control anomalies.
The prosecutor also offered Buenaventura’s testimony to explain why banks, insurers and other covered institutions submit large cash and suspicious transaction reports to AMLC.
“Banks and insurers report these transactions because this is how dirty money moves,” Divinagracia said.
Divinagracia added that covered institutions are required to report large cash transactions and transactions they consider suspicious because money from illegal activity commonly passes through such channels.
The prosecution’s final stated purpose covered AMLC’s powers and functions, the rules on covered and suspicious transactions and the procedures followed by the council in complying with the impeachment court’s subpoenas.
Divinagracia said the financial figures that the prosecution intends to present came from institutional reports received, kept and submitted by AMLC to the impeachment court on July 30, 2026.
“Every figure comes from the banks’ own reports,” she said.
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