MANILA, Philippines — The National Security Council (NSC) deepened its scrutiny of coordinate with reported financial inflows from China to a company linked to Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband to determine if these carry national security implications, National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban Jr. said.
Oban said the NSC was taking seriously information presented during Duterte’s impeachment proceedings concerning significant foreign financial flows to a Philippine-based company associated with her family.
Oban said the agency will coordinate with intelligence, investigative and other government agencies to assess the information shared before the Senate impeachment court.
He stressed, however, that the information presented must first undergo examination through established legal processes.
“The NSC will look into the information presented and, as a matter of policy, continue to task the intelligence and investigative agencies and coordinate with relevant government institutions to assess the national security implications, if any, arising from the reported transactions,” Oban said in a statement.
The NSC action followed testimony by Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura that Cale88 Foods Corp., a company where lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio had been an incorporator, director and shareholder, received P319.33 million in remittances from mainland China and Hong Kong.
AMLC records showed that P315.94 million came from mainland China and P3.39 million from Hong Kong. The records included 143 covered transaction reports involving China and Hong Kong and three suspicious transaction reports involving transactions from China.
The national security dimension was further raised during the impeachment proceedings when Sen. Risa Hontiveros identified some of the Chinese companies associated with the remittances as having links to China's state-owned enterprise system.
Hontiveros cited China National Township Enterprises and Beijing Zhenweifang Food Co. among the entities associated with the transactions. She said research by her office traced China National Township Enterprises to China's state-owned agricultural enterprise system and Beijing Zhenweifang Food Co. to Xinjiang Fruit Industry Group.
The senator-judge said the latter also had ties to China's state-owned enterprise system and an institutional Communist Party organization within its corporate structure.
The AMLC, however, did not testify that the Chinese government itself sent money to Cale88 or that the remittances were intended to finance Duterte or Carpio personally.
Buenaventura likewise did not establish during his testimony that any portion of the P319.33 million directly benefited the vice president or her husband.
The defense has stressed these distinctions, arguing that the AMLC records concern transactions involving Cale88 and do not by themselves establish that the funds were personal money belonging to Duterte or Carpio.
Cale88 was incorporated in 2021 with paid-up capital of P125,000, while the records showed substantially larger financial movements and comparatively modest reported sales.
The company also received nearly P50 million in remittances from eight other countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, South Africa, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Separately, bank testimony showed that Cale88's two peso checking accounts at Security Bank recorded about P40.14 million in inflows and P40 million in outflows in 2024. The accounts were later closed in July 2026.
A bank witness could not establish, however, whether the China-related remittances passed through those peso accounts or through a foreign-currency account.
The issue has drawn attention from national security officials because of the broader question of whether foreign financial flows could have implications beyond ordinary commercial transactions.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. earlier said allegations of foreign financial support to Philippine political actors, if substantiated, could have serious national security implications and urged those making the allegations to submit evidence to law enforcement authorities.
The NSC has not declared that the reported transactions constitute foreign interference or that they were directed by the Chinese government. Its review is focused on determining whether the information presented in the impeachment proceedings has any bearing on national security.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila has denied allegations that Beijing funneled money to a Philippine political faction.
