MANILA — Financial forensic expert lawyer Alexander Cabrera flagged major red flags in the financial records of banana chips exporter Cale88, linked to the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, during Monday’s impeachment proceedings.
Testifying before Senator Raffy Tulfo on Monday, October 12, Cabrera revealed that Cale88—a business interest of Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio—exhibited glaring gaps in its financial statements, notably lacking accounts receivable, accounts payable, and raw material inventory despite handling massive capital inflows and outflows.
Cabrera pointed out that despite claiming hundreds of millions of pesos in export revenues, the company reported minimal property, plant, and equipment.
He characterized the firm’s transactions as a “revolving door” where incoming funds immediately exit while the enterprise continually declares losses.
“Pagpasok po ng pera, lumalabas po,” Cabrera said, describing the pattern of cash movement.
When Tulfo questioned whether Cale88’s manufacturing scale matched its reported export volumes, Cabrera noted that a comparison with five or six similar exporters generating around ₱200 million annually revealed stark contrasts. Unlike Cale88, the benchmark companies maintained substantial factory assets, inventories, and active ledgers of receivables and payables.
Furthermore, Cabrera suggested that Cale88’s cost of sales appeared strategically manipulated to keep reported income low.
While he admitted to not personally verifying Bureau of Customs data, Tulfo pressed House prosecution panel member Akbayan Party-list Representative Chel Diokno regarding export validation to countries like Tajikistan, Lithuania, and Kazakhstan.
Diokno admitted that time constraints prevented the panel from securing complete export data, conceding that the enterprise demands deeper scrutiny.
“That’s really something that I think should be further investigated,” Diokno said.
The hearing also touched upon potential money laundering schemes, with Cabrera concurring with Tulfo that illicit funds can be integrated into legitimate corporate entities and cleaned through regular tax payments.