Two Security Bank accounts of Sara, husband-linked firm closed in July

Two checking accounts of Cale88 Food Corp., the firm partly owned by Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband, Mans Carpio, were closed in July, the same month she faces her impeachment trial in the Senate.

The development emerged during Day 35 of the trial on Wednesday, after Senator-judge Kiko Pangilinan asked Security Bank Branch Banking Group head Leslie Cham if the corporation maintains a peso account with them.

“It appears that Cale88 has two checking accounts but was closed already as of this point in time. This is a peso account,” Cham said in response.

“When was it closed?” Pangilinan asked. “It closed [in] July 2026…Both closed [in] July 2026,” the prosecution witness replied.

The first account was opened in August 2024, while the other one closed in October last year.

They had ending balances of P332,530.95 and P21,164.27 as of December last year.

Cale88 was incorporated in 2021. Carpio served as an incorporator, director, and shareholder from 2021 to 2024 and held a 47.5 percent ownership stake.

A certain Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corp. replaced him in 2025, but Duterte still disclosed Cale88 as one of her business interests in her 2025 SALN.

Pangilinan asked for Cale88’s monthly transaction reports, including deposits and withdrawals, going back to 2024, but Cham said he could not provide them because they are system-generated.

Pangilinan emphasized the need to review the money that flowed into and out of Cale88 through its Security Bank accounts, including those leading up to its disclosure in July, taking into account the report submitted to the Senate impeachment court by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

AMLC record showed that Cale88 received inward remittances totaling P319.32 million from China and Hong Kong, with the former accounting for the lion’s share at P315.935 million.

Pangilinan said Cale88’s transaction report with Security Bank warrants a closer look, since the two accounts were opened while Duterte was already vice president.

Upon questioning by Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo, Cham subsequently disclosed that, in 2024 alone, the amount that entered one of the checking accounts totaled P40.14 million. Outflows from the same account were nearly the same, totalling P40.001,101.79.

Meanwhile, in 2025, cash inflows totaled P6.3 million, Cham added.

Cale88 flagged

Duterte does not maintain any account with Security Bank, while Carpio has two, but only one is active. It is a checking account opened on 25 October 2022.

A transaction is generally classified as suspicious if it shows indicators of unlawful activity, a lack of economic rationale, or a mismatch with the client's profile, among others. Being flagged as suspicious alone does not prove money laundering or establish that the funds are illegal.

Earlier this week, AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura bared that Cale88 was subject to three suspicious transaction reports (STRs) for lack of “underlying legal or trade obligation, purpose, or economic justification” involving its remittance inflows.

Covered institutions, such as banks, non-bank entities, and insurance companies, file an STR with the AMLC when a financial transaction raises red flags and arouses suspicion.

The indicators include unlawful activity, a lack of economic rationale, or a mismatch with the client's profile, among others. Being flagged as suspicious alone does not prove money laundering or establish that the funds are illegal.

Gencorp Industries Inc., a firm linked with Duterte, maintains eight active accounts with Security Bank. They were opened between 2023 and 2025.

Cham provided a preview of their year-end balances covering 2022 to 2025.

For Account 6890, the ending balance was P7.9 million in December 2022, increasing to P10.7 million in 2023 before declining to P9.04 million in 2024 and P3.3 million in 2025.

Meanwhile, account 7044 posted P2.3 million in 2022, P3.1 million in 2023, and P4.5 million in 2024. By the end of 2025, its balance dropped by P2.4 million.

For account 7204, no 2022 figure was available. The account ended 2023 with P3.2 million, increased to P5.1 million in 2024, and fell to P4.1 million in 2025.

As for the fourth account, 7215, it had an ending balance of P14.6 million in 2022, slightly increasing to P15.7 million in 2023 before falling to P11.3 million in 2024. Cham was unable to provide a figure for 2025.

For Account 6022, the reported balance was only P501,390.50 in 2023, and rose to P1.5 million, or about three times, in 2024. The balance remained largely stable, rising by only P850 in 2025.

Account 2772, opened only in 2025, had a year-end balance of P3.2 million, while Account 8836, also opened last year, had a year-end balance of P18.7 million. The last account, 9710, was reported to have a zero balance.

Duterte identified herself as an incorporator and stockholder of Gencorp, based on her past Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, though Securities and Exchange Commission records do not list her as one.

It is the same corporation that bagged P34.2 million from the Davao City local government from 21 July 2022 to 23 June this year, overlapping with Duterte’s tenure as VP.

The LGU’s local chief executive is the VP’s younger brother, Baste Duterte.