MANILA – Cale88 Foods Corporation faced widening scrutiny before the Senate impeachment court Tuesday as questions emerged over a PHP776-million inflow, the reported transfer of lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio’s shares, and the company’s failure to file audited financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for two years.
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura said the PHP776-million inflow could serve as a starting point for further money-laundering scrutiny after Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian compared it with figures showing only PHP125,000 in paid-up capital, about PHP23 million in cumulative sales, PHP18 million in assets and PHP20 million in liabilities.
“Kung hindi mahanap sa libro yung PHP776 million, candidate ba itong Cale88 for money laundering? (If the PHP776 million cannot be found in the books, could Cale88 be a candidate for money laundering?)” Gatchalian asked.
“As starting point, maaari po (As a starting point, it could be),” Buenaventura replied, stressing that investigators would still need to examine other factors and determine whether the funds came from an unlawful activity.
Gatchalian also cited about PHP154 million in outflows and asked where the PHP776 million eventually went.
“I can only testify on the records, and the records will not indicate where it went, except on what is stated on the records,” Buenaventura said.
A separate ownership issue surfaced when senator-judge Raffy Tulfo noted that Carpio no longer appeared among Cale88’s shareholders and corporate officers in 2025.
“It seems to me that he couldn’t have benefited from all the alleged transactions,” Tulfo said.
Prosecution counsel Mae Divinagracia disputed the inference, saying Bureau of Internal Revenue records the prosecution intends to present do not show a capital gains tax payment corresponding to the supposed share transfer.
“There is nothing on record that will show, Your Honor, that there was a valid transfer because no capital gains tax payment is reflected in the BIR records,” Divinagracia said.
She added that Vice President Sara Duterte’s 2025 disclosure continued to identify Cale88 as a business interest of her husband.
Scrutiny later shifted to Cale88’s corporate filings after senator-judge Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan asked whether the company had submitted audited financial statements to the SEC.
“If I recall, we were not able to secure the audited financial statements of Cale88, is that correct?” Pangilinan asked.
Divinagracia said Cale88 did not file audited financial statements with the SEC for 2024 and 2025, although such documents were attached to annual returns submitted to the BIR.
She said non-filing of the financial statements with the SEC carries a penalty.
