SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Fisherfolk leaders from Zambales and Bataan on Sunday challenged Vice President Sara Duterte to explain reported multimillion-peso transactions involving a company linked to her husband and entities in China and Hong Kong, questioning whether these had any connection to her perceived silence on Chinese harassment of Filipino fishers in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
During Duterte’s impeachment proceedings, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified that Cale88 Foods Corp., a banana chip company linked to lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, Duterte’s husband, received P319.33 million in inward remittances from mainland China and Hong Kong.
“Madam Vice President Sara, is your silence amid the violence and cruelty we endure at the hands of China in the West Philippine Sea because you were paid millions to remain silent?” said Leonardo “Ka Nards” Cuaresma, president of the New Masinloc Fishermen Association and a coconvenor of the Atin Ito Coalition, during a press briefing here.
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Scrutiny
Cuaresma said the reported transactions had heightened concerns among fishers facing intimidation and restrictions in their traditional fishing grounds.
“We feel like thieves in our own fishing grounds,” he said, citing water cannon attacks and the theft of catches by Chinese vessels.
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“When we learned about the huge sums of money reportedly received by Sara Duterte and her husband from China and Hong Kong, our suspicions grew. Has our sea been sold to China?” he added.
Of the P319.33 million in remittances, P315.94 million came from mainland China and P3.39 million from Hong Kong, according to AMLC records presented during the proceedings.
Buenaventura also cited P4.4 billion in aggregate covered and suspicious transactions involving Duterte and Carpio from 2007 to 2025, including inflows, outflows and transactions whose direction could not be reliably classified.
The records formed part of the House prosecution panel’s evidence in the impeachment case, which includes allegations of unexplained wealth, bribery and corruption.
However, Duterte’s camp said the testimony did not establish that the remittances came from the Chinese government or that the transactions were illegal.
Duterte’s camp asserted that the testimony did not prove that the funds were illegally sourced, concealed or belonged to the couple. The Chinese Embassy in Manila also denied allegations that China had funneled money to a Philippine political faction.
“While we are being harassed, intimidated, robbed of our catch and driven away by Chinese vessels from our own waters, the Vice President and her husband have reportedly received millions from China. Isn’t this a betrayal? Don’t they owe the Filipino people an explanation?” he said.
Duterte has previously said that addressing the WPS dispute and formulating foreign policy are the President’s responsibilities.
The press conference coincided with a forum organized by Atin Ito and the Center for Information Resilience and Integrity Studies, which brought together more than 50 fisherfolk leaders and government representatives to discuss livelihood and safety concerns arising from Chinese incursions in the WPS.
Representatives from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy presented available programs and services.
Atin Ito co-convenor and Akbayan president Rafaela David called for sustained government support for coastal communities.
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement president Edicio Dela Torre likewise called for stronger coordination among fishing communities, local governments and national agencies to protect fishers’ livelihoods. INQ
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