Chummy China connection

Name names. Vice President Sara Duterte hurled that challenge to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. last month when he called on government officials who refuse to defend the West Philippine Sea (WPS) against Chinese aggression to resign their posts.

Apparently, she felt alluded to. According to Duterte, by not identifying the so-called pro-China officials, Teodoro cast suspicion on everyone, including President Marcos. “You cannot make such allegations without naming those officials,” Duterte said in Filipino.

This exchange acquires new significance following former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s bombshell allegations that a foundation connected to the Vice President and a food company partly owned by her husband, Manases Carpio, received funds from China.

In a press conference last Friday, Trillanes said CALE88 Foods Corp., which is partly owned by Carpio, received over P319 million from the Chinese government and China-based entities, while Tapang and Malasakit Foundation got a P150 million donation from the Chinese embassy in Manila. The Vice President serves as a board member of the foundation, according to Trillanes.

Secret bank accounts

Trillanes said documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission showed the food company declared more than P208 million in sales and over P300 million in remittances. But the company, supposedly engaged in production of banana chips, has zero trade receivables and payables, no rank-and-file employees, and barely used electricity.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Trillanes’ allegations have “no probative value” in Duterte’s ongoing impeachment trial because he did not give his testimony before the Senate impeachment court. Trillanes was lined up as a prosecution witness last week, but presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero refused to issue him a subpoena and questioned why he would be presented ahead of the official from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Trillanes asked the prosecution to withdraw his name as a witness, to relieve it of “pressure,” and instead aired his statements in a press conference. The former senator had long exposed alleged secret bank accounts of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his children, ostensibly coming from illicit sources, including illegal drugs. He testified in the clarificatory hearings of the House justice committee earlier this year, where the AMLC executive director verified specific amounts Trillanes mentioned as appearing in the Vice President’s monitored bank transactions.

Serious implications

However, specific allegations about Chinese money flowing to the Vice President’s foundation and her husband’s company warrant an investigation because they reinforce public perception regarding her silence on the increasingly aggressive actions of China in the WPS. Her only memorable comment on the WPS was her threat to retrieve the remains of the President’s father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., from the Libingan ng mga Bayani and throw them in the WPS after her falling out with the President in 2024.

Palace press officer Claire Castro said Trillanes’ allegations should not be ignored. “It could be considered an act of betrayal of the country when Filipinos, especially public officials, remain silent about the violence being inflicted upon some of our fishermen by foreign forces, while others are willing to give away parts of our territory or our rights in the West Philippine Sea because their eyes have been blinded by money, causing them to turn their backs on their love for the country and sell our freedom,” Castro said.

Teodoro similarly called on Trillanes to submit evidence to authorities, saying his allegations “if substantiated, raise serious implications for national security.”

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Blanket denial

The Senate impeachment court should not look away from this issue either, as it has the power to compel the AMLC to disclose the money trail that could confirm or deny Trillanes’ expose as part of its mandate to determine whether or not the Vice President committed culpable violations of the Constitution and must be removed from office.

But outside of the impeachment court, the appropriate government agencies should also investigate whether the Vice President’s foundation received P150 million from the Chinese embassy and if this constitutes any criminal or administrative offenses.

The Chinese embassy declined to comment on Trillanes’ statements, saying these involve “domestic politics.” How hard is it for the Chinese embassy to deny donating P150 million to the Vice President’s foundation if this is not true at all?

But more importantly, the Vice President owes the public more than the blanket denial her spokesperson has issued regarding Trillanes’ allegations. And while at it, she has the opportunity to dispel suspicions about her long silence on the numerous incidents of Chinese bullying of Philippine vessels and Filipino fishermen and incursions in the WPS. The Filipino people deserve to know whether her chummy China connection is mere diplomatic courtesy or something inimical to the Philippines.