SENATOR-JUDGE Joel Villanueva raised striking inconsistencies Monday showing that CALE88 Foods Corporation — in which Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio holds a 47.5‑percent stake — reported ₱150 million in sales during 2024 while having zero employees on record.
Citing filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Villanueva noted the company also had no staff in 2023 and only added two employees in 2025. He asked prosecution forensic expert Atty. Alexander Cabrera whether any outsourcing or subcontracting arrangement existed to explain the activity; Cabrera confirmed he found no such agreement.
Villanueva further pointed out that the firm — described as a banana chip exporter — showed no year‑end inventories of raw materials, sugar, packaging, or work‑in‑progress in its filings. Cabrera verified that only minimal finished goods inventory was listed, with no supplies or partially completed production on hand. “If you are a manufacturer, that is not possible — operations would stop. And it is not natural to have no inventory because those are the materials needed to export,” Cabrera testified, agreeing that the pattern was irregular for an actual manufacturing enterprise.
CALE88 was established in September 2021 with Carpio and Lourdes Lebosada — the Vice President’s dentist — each holding equal 47.5‑percent shares. Between 2022 and 2025, the company received ₱776 million in remittances from abroad, including ₱319 million originating from Chinese entities. By 2025, filings indicated majority ownership had shifted to a separate entity called Pikimong‑Pikimong. Defense counsel Atty. Kristine Ferrer declined to respond to Villanueva’s queries, stating the defense would address these matters when it presents its own evidence.
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