FIRING LINE: Dare to change your mind

FIRING LINE: Dare to change your mind

By Robert B. Roque Jr. l October 8, 2026

Last week, neither I nor probably most of us Filipinos had ever heard of Cale88 Foods Corporation. Today it may be the most dangerous banana chip company in the country.

On paper, it is a Tagum City snack maker founded in September 2021. Its paid-up capital is ₱125,000, its monthly electricity bill is about ₱8,000, and it has no rank-and-file workforce.

Yet the fact that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband, Atty. Mans Carpio, as incorporator, director, and major shareholder, makes its whole existence worth looking into.

Imagine, his stake rose from 40 percent in 2021 to 47.5 percent in 2024, then vanished from the stockholder list in 2025. The company sits in VP Sara’s statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) from 2022 to 2025, and the peculiarity of it all is this: a tiny firm, such huge money, and behind it, a family in power.

At the impeachment trial, AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified that Cale88 received ₱319,326,770.41 in inward remittances across 143 transactions: ₱315.93 million from mainland China and ₱3.39 million from Hong Kong.

It is no wonder the AMLC flagged them as suspicious because there was “no underlying legal or trade obligation, purpose, or economic justification.” Buenaventura agreed with Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian that the firm is a “candidate for money laundering.”

Senator-Judge Risa Hontiveros traced the senders to Chinese state-owned enterprises, including China National Township Enterprises, which operates under SASAC, and Yiwu Yunnong Import and Export.

And here’s where suspicion and peculiarity become scary: the company’s website is reportedly being redirected to the Chinese Embassy’s! What the F is that!?

In fairness, the AMLC said its records do not explicitly show the Chinese government itself sent the money. Nothing here is proven. But that is exactly what this trial must uncover, shouldn’t it?

For former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV, this development appears like vindication just as DDS social media gangs try to bury him. Blunt and unlikable as he may be, Trillanes has a record of backing his claims with paper. His press conference last Friday laid down the same figure the AMLC later confirmed, practically down to the centavo.

And how lame is the defense? The VP calls it “garbage” and “black propaganda.” Spokesperson Paolo Panelo says the only thing confirmed is that Trillanes got his data illegally. Denial is not a defense. It is a shrug. Attacking the messenger answers nothing. And of course the evidence was hard to get: no one who hides ₱319 million leaves the books open on the front desk. Not one word explains where the money went, or why.

If true, it is damning. A leading 2028 contender with pockets full of cash from Beijing, the same power harassing our fishermen in the West Philippine Sea? That is not mere corruption. It is a betrayal of public trust and perhaps even treason.

At this point, Filipinos must really wake up. Watch the trial many dismissed because it is boring or because they were biased against it. You may not want to hear accusations against your idol, but the truth does not need your permission. If you dare to look at it, the vote you pledged for 2028 may deserve a second thought. Dare to change your mind.

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