Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Manases Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, has no record of paying taxes on the transfer of his shares in Cale88 Food Corporation, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said Thursday – possibly rendering the sale non-binding to third parties outside the buyer and seller.

During the 36th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial, BIR chief of staff Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez revealed that the bureau has no records ‘on the transfer, sale or disposition or other conveyance of shares of stock of Cale88 foods corporation owned by [Carpio].’

In fact, Marquez bared that no Electronic Certificate Authorizing Registration or eCAR was secured by Cale88 following the supposed transfer of ownership.

An eCAR refers to a document issued by the BIR certifying that all taxes related to the transfer of any property have been paid.

According to Marquez, under BIR regulations, securing an eCAR from the BIR is mandatory for any transfer or disposition of shares of stock not traded on the stock exchange.

Private prosecutor Atty. Erwin Matib then asked if the BIR has at least pending applications for the certificate, but Marquez responded no.

‘So wala at all record ang BIR ng bentahan ng shares of stock ng Atty. Manases Carpio? So ibig sabihin siya pa rin talaga ang may ari ng Cale88 foods corp. at peke pala ang pagbenta ng shares to Pikimong Pikimong Inc.?’ asked Matib.

(So, the BIR has absolutely no record of the sale of shares of stock by Atty. Manases Carpio; this means he is actually still the owner of Cale88 Foods Corp., and the sale of shares to Pikimong Pikimong Inc. was fake.)

Before Marquez could respond, however, the defense-through counsel Atty. Kristine Ferrer- objected to the question alleging that it was a conclusion of law, which Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Escudero sustained.

Instead, Escudero asked Marquez if the lack of an eCAR meant the transfer of ownership was invalid to which she responded:

‘Considering ‘yung revised corporation code, valid lang din between the parties maybe, but it should not have been recorded in the stock and transfer books, as far as the BIR is concerned,’ said Marquez.

(Considering the revised corporation code, it is only valid between the parties maybe, but it should not have been recorded in the stock and transfer books, as far as the BIR is concerned.)

Asked further if this meant the transfer was not binding to third parties, including the government, Marque responded in the affirmative.

‘Yes po. Basta po kasi sa BIR, basta hindi bayad ‘yung taxes it should not have been transferred to the stock transfer books,’ said Marquez.

(Yes. As far as the BIR is concerned, if the taxes haven’t been paid, the shares should not have been transferred in the stock transfer books.)

‘As to the validity, I think the law on contracts should be applied … but again para sa BIR, any transfer para ma-register sa books and be binding, all taxes should have been paid,’ she added.

(As to the validity, I think the law on contracts should be applied… but again for the BIR, any transfer to be registered in the books and be binding, all taxes should have been paid.)

To recall, Carpio’s name no longer appeared in Cale88’s 2025 General Information Sheet and was replaced instead by Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corp.

The New York Liberty opted not to advance the ball for a better shot at a tying 3-pointer, then said after their loss WNBA Wednesday night that officials told them they didn’t have a reset timeout left.

The Liberty inbounded the ball under the basket, forcing them to go the length of the court, after Angel Reese made two free throws to give the Atlanta Dream a three-point lead with 4.3 seconds remaining in overtime. The broadcast of the game showed that the Liberty had their reset, which is a WNBA rule allowing a team to advance the ball to halfcourt without going back to its bench to huddle.

Breanna Stewart missed a 32-foot attempt and the Dream took a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals with their 101-98 victory.

WNBA rules state that ‘each team is entitled to one Reset in the final two minutes of the fourth period and one Reset in the last two minutes of any overtime period.’

The Liberty had used both regular timeouts in overtime – they lost a coach’s challenge to cost them one – but hadn’t used their reset. Yet Stewart said they were told it wasn’t available.

‘This is not blaming the refs, but when I ask both refs if we have a reset timeout again, and they tell us no, and we leave the game with a reset timeout, it’s pretty frustrating,’ Stewart said. ‘Yeah, OK, I kind of got a good look at the end, but we’d just like to have some clarity on that situation as well.’

Stewart clarified that the conversation with the officials happened while Reese was at the line.

‘I asked Kevin (referee Kevin Fahy), I said, ‘Do we have a reset timeout?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to check with the table.’ So then he goes to Fatou (crew chief Fatou Cissoko-Stephens) and she said no. So he told me no,’ Stewart said. ‘Of course, who knows what would have happened to end the game, but we would have had hopefully a better shot on goal.’

The WNBA’s pool report, conducted with Cissoko-Stephens, contradicted Stewart.

‘Stewart was standing behind referee Fahy when he confirmed with his partner between Reese’s penalty free throws that New York did indeed have a reset timeout remaining,’ Cissoko-Stephens said.

Further in the pool report, the league clarified the protocols around timeout tracking.

‘Available timeouts are tracked by the scorer’s table and statistical staff,’ Cissoko-Stephens said. ‘Teams are responsible for managing and tracking their timeout usage throughout the game. Officials may confirm the status of timeouts with the table when necessary, but they do not officially track timeouts.’

New York coach Chris DeMarco, like Stewart, said he was told the team did not have a timeout, which referees also disputed.

‘There was no direction communication with the officials (and) the team,’ Cissoko-Stephens said.

Atlanta coach Karl Smesko was surprised the Liberty didn’t advance the ball.

‘I thought they had a timeout left,’ Smesko said. ‘I was expecting it to be advanced, but it wasn’t. So we had to play, and fortunately we were able to get the stop.’

The Senate impeachment court’s ruling that reduced the number of votes needed to convict or acquit Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial is being challenged again in the Supreme Court, this time by her allies from the chamber and from her father’s political party.

Senators Robinhood Padilla and Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go and officers of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition on Sept. 29, a day before the high court dismissed three earlier petitions challenging the same Senate ruling. It was released to the media only on Wednesday.

Padilla and Go are both senator-judges in the impeachment trial. The other petitioners from the PDP-Laban were Chair and former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, lawyer Jimmy Bondoc, and actor Philip Salvador. Lawyers Israelito Torreon, Ferdinand Topacio and Resci Rizada-Nolasco also joined the petition.

‘Grave abuse of discretion’

They asked the court to stop the Senate impeachment court from enforcing its Sept. 23 ruling, calling it a ‘grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.’

The Senate, voting 13-1, ruled that only senators capable of participating in the trial may be counted in determining the two-thirds vote required for conviction. The ruling effectively lowered the threshold from 16 to 14 votes if six senators remain unable to participate.

The petitioners argued that the Constitution requires two-thirds of all 24 senators, regardless of whether some are absent from the proceedings.

‘The Constitution does not count only the senators it finds convenient. It says ‘all,’ and ‘all has never meant ‘some.’ Two-thirds of twenty-four is sixteen,’ they said.

Article XI, Section 3(6) of the 1987 Constitution provides that ‘no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate.’

The petitioners said the issue was already ripe for judicial review because senators were being required to participate under a rule they considered unconstitutional.

‘Ripeness does not require petitioners to await the very harm the Constitution was designed to prevent,’ they said.

They also rejected the possibility that the challenge was premature, saying every ruling on who may be counted and the eventual impeachment vote would be made under the disputed formula.

The latest petition came after the Supreme Court on Sept. 30 dismissed similar petitions filed by former Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez, constitutional lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. and disbarred lawyer Berteni Causing, citing procedural grounds, including lack of standing and prematurity.

In a statement Wednesday, the latest petitioners said their case was different because Padilla and Go were sitting senator-judges whose ‘own votes, seats, and oaths are directly affected by the ruling.’

PDP-Laban also said Senators Rodante Marcoleta and Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, whom it considers members or active members, were among those excluded from the count. Other senators potentially left out are Loren Legarda, who is on extended medical leave, and Jinggoy Estrada, who is detained on plunder charges.

Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan is buying additional shares in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP) for P2.19 billion.

In a disclosure on Wednesday, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said its power subsidiary had executed a contract with Pangilinan, chair of Meralco, to sell and purchase shares of stock.

The transaction, which would be pursued through a special block sale crossed at the Philippine Stock Exchange, involves the purchase of 3.77 million common shares in Meralco, priced at P580.99 each.

The block represents about 0.33 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of the distribution giant.

Last week, SMGP said its board had approved unloading up to 46.596 million Meralco common shares.

Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan is buying additional shares in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP) for P2.19 billion.

In a disclosure on Wednesday, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said its power subsidiary had executed a contract with Pangilinan, chair of Meralco, to sell and purchase shares of stock.

The transaction, which would be pursued through a special block sale crossed at the Philippine Stock Exchange, involves the purchase of 3.77 million common shares in Meralco, priced at P580.99 each.

The block represents about 0.33 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of the distribution giant.

Last week, SMGP said its board had approved unloading up to 46.596 million Meralco common shares.

A group of investors in the Philippines has launched a new investment map and directory to connect Filipino women-led businesses with prospective investors, as women entrepreneurs worldwide continue to receive only a small fraction of startup funding.

About $1.5 billion was invested in Philippine startups last year, equivalent to roughly 19 percent of startup funding across Southeast Asia. However, only about 3.6 percent of funding globally goes to women-led enterprises.

That disparity is what the Gender-Smart Investing Directory and Map of the Philippines aims to address by providing a publicly accessible platform that brings together women-led businesses, investors and other organizations supporting gender-focused investments.

It was created by Kerubin Capital, a capital fund dedicated to women-led businesses backed by the Manila Angel Investors Network, one of the Philippines’ largest private investor groups with more than 30 portfolio companies.

More than 200 entities had already signed up for the directory. Qualified businesses and organizations can list themselves for free.

Users can search the map for participating founders, investors and other organizations within the ‘gender-smart’ investment ecosystem, including where they are located and the category they fall under.

‘The gender financing gap in the Philippines is, in large part, an information gap,’ said Tina Di Cicco, managing partner and CEO of Kerubin Capital. ‘There is capital that wants to reach women-led businesses and there are women-led businesses ready for that capital. They simply could not see each other.’

‘This map changes that,’ she added. ‘For the first time, a woman founder in Cebu or Davao can find, in minutes, the investors who are actively looking for companies like hers.’

Di Cicco said that, eventually, the company wants to lift women-led businesses’ share of available capital closer to 30 percent.

Further, Di Cicco said greater gender diversity could also benefit businesses themselves. She cited data showing that gender-balanced organizations can outperform their peers financially by 20 percent to 25 percent.

Male-owned or male-led businesses may also be considered gender-smart on the platform, she added.

Under these criteria, companies may qualify based on female ownership, women’s representation in leadership and employment or whether their products disproportionately benefit women.

The investment map and directory were launched with support from Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian government.

Di Cicco said the Philippine platform could eventually be replicated elsewhere in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Vietnam among the potential next markets.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has issued new guidelines clarifying for covered taxpayers the procedures for complying with the requirements of its Enhanced Electronic Documentary Stamp Tax (eDST) System.According to a BIR statement issued on Wednesday, the guidelines are contained in Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 107-2026, which was published on Oct. 1. They provide clearer procedures for enrolling in the system and using it, and for resolving common compliance issues.

‘The Enhanced eDST System gives covered taxpayers a secure and standardized electronic way to affix documentary stamps and comply with their DST obligations. By improving the electronic process and clarifying how the system should be used, we want these transactions to be easier and more reliable for taxpayers,’ BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza said.

Under the circular, covered taxpayers must also enroll in the Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) to file BIR Form No. 2000 and pay the documentary stamp tax. They should also attend the BIR orientation on the Enhanced eDST System before using it.

For notaries public, including those employed by law firms or other offices and those engaged as third-party or outsourced service providers, the circular requires them to enroll in the eDST System in their individual capacity and maintain their own eDST account.

They must also update their BIR registration classification to ‘Professional’ and ensure that their records reflect their authority to perform notarial services.

The circular also provides safeguards for erroneous documentary stamp affixations and technical problems. Refund claims may be filed for double, multiple, or erroneous affixations.

Taxpayers affected by system downtime, connectivity issues, delayed responses, or non-posting of payments may secure a Trouble Ticket Number from the BIR Contact Center as proof that the incident was timely reported.

Taxpayers required to use the Enhanced eDST System have until Dec. 31 to enroll, while newly registered taxpayers covered by the mandate must enroll within 90 days from the date of their BIR registration.

Pending enrollment, covered taxpayers shall continue to comply with their documentary stamp tax obligations under existing rules.

The Enhanced eDST System forms part of the BIR’s Digital and Data Transformation agenda under BIR DARES, aimed at modernizing tax administration and making compliance more efficient for taxpayers.

Like clockwork, La Salle turned to Jacob Cortez in the clutch against Ateneo.

The Green Archers’ decision to turn to Cortez paid off in an 83-76 win over the Blue Eagles in the UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.

Cortez had struggled to find his rhythm earlier in the tournament. Before La Salle’s current two-game winning streak began with a victory over University of the East, he managed just six points on 2-of-8 shooting against Far Eastern University.

Against their rivals, Cortez scored eight of his 12 points in the crucial payoff period push to help La Salle improve to 3-2.

Green Archers’ coach Topex Robinson, for one, was pleased to see his star player get back his clutch touch.

‘I don’t know if you guys remember but this guy made us lose against UST,’ Robinson said in jest.

‘But, seven months ago, we won the title with him. We will win with Jacob and we will lose with Jacob, that will not change.’

Cortez also finished with five assists, three rebounds and a steal.

‘I think that’s where the magic happens. When he trusts his coaches and teammates good things are bound to happen,’ said Robinson.

Cortez, for his part, said the rivalry energy got him going.

If the scientific community’s dire predictions come to pass, the active El Niño weather phenomenon that is widely predicted to reach its peak in the last quarter of this year – with the impact to be felt well into 2027 – will be among the worst on record, possibly exceeding the strength of previous cycles dating back to 1950.

Unfortunately for the Philippines, it was listed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of the United Nations among the countries ‘at highest risk of severe humanitarian impacts’ caused or worsened by the ‘Super El Niño,’ which is characterized by hotter and drier conditions, meaning prolonged droughts, possible water shortages, extreme heat, and consequently further slowdown in the broader economy.

‘El Niño in Spanish means boy child-but it has the potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world. We are already seeing disruption and devastation from droughts and floods, and we expect these impacts to increase as El Niño intensifies,’ warned WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo.

‘This exceptional El Niño demands exceptional preparation and response,’ Saulo stressed.

Below-normal rainfall

Given such a clear and unequivocal warning, the Marcos administration should not tarry and put preparing for the potentially severe impact of El Niño at the top of its priority list, and shift its attention and resources away from inconsequential diversions to deal with what is rising to the level of an existential threat.

‘Let us not wait for our fields to turn to ash, our taps to run dry, and our people to collapse from the heat before we scramble for solutions,’ Sen. Erwin Tulfo, chair of the Senate committee on social justice, welfare, and rural development, last week said. ‘We have the science. We have the warnings. It is time to stop managing disasters after they happen, and start executing a decisive, proactive survival strategy.’

According to the first El Niño bulletin of the Department of Agriculture issued Sept. 26, 14 of the country’s 18 regions are already reeling from drought caused by the phenomenon that began to make its presence felt in the Philippines last June, so far causing P6.87 billion in damage to the agriculture sector and affecting 223,214 farmers.

More will be added to the tally as, by March 2027, all provinces will experience drought or below-normal rainfall, according to Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr., leading to lower agricultural production and therefore even higher prices of key commodities, including key staples rice and corn.

El Niño Task Force

President Marcos did activate the El Niño Task Force earlier this year, precisely to get all of the frontline agencies together to shield the Philippines against the worst effects of El Niño, drawing from the painful lessons of previous episodes such as the 2023-2024 cycle that caused P15.3 billion in damage to the agriculture sector alone.

However, the task force has been criticized for being little more than a coordinating body, with lots of talking heads and individual actions across agencies that do not project enough sense of extreme urgency, considering the severe consequences of inadequate preparation.

No wonder then that a growing number of Filipinos have resorted to hoarding bottled water and buying water drums to feel some measure of control over their fate, despite government assurances that there is no reason to panic, with P46 billion set aside this year alone to cushion the impact of ‘Super El Niño’ on water supply, public health and safety, and food security.

Thus, Tulfo’s call for the task force to have ‘a clear plan, clear responsibilities, and, most importantly, the resources to act before the crisis paralyzes our communities.’

Scientific data

The excessive rains that fell at the conclusion of this year’s habagat season have fortunately filled up the country’s major dams, giving the government additional time to prepare for this year’s climate hazard that comes at a time when the Philippines is already wobbling from the weight of the Middle East oil crisis that has jacked up prices of basic goods and services.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel assured the public that the agency is now ‘more prepared,’ stocking up on food and farm inputs and deploying targeted interventions including fuel and fertilizer subsidies to areas expected to be hardest hit by the ‘very strong’ El Niño.

Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna, meanwhile, said the agency was ready to conduct cloud seeding operations in agricultural and watershed areas to enhance water supply, while the Department of Science and Technology has committed to harness scientific data to regularly inform the public of the progress of the weather phenomenon.

The prosecution panel tried to ask the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) whether it maintains foreign accounts under Vice President Sara Duterte, but the Senate Impeachment Court blocked the inquiry as it is outside the subpoena’s scope.

During Wednesday’s resumption of Duterte’s impeachment trial, private prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih asked BPI Division Head Marwin Galvez whether Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, have foreign accounts with the bank.

However, Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero sustained the objection from respondent’s counsel, Michael Poa.

‘Sustained, not part of the subpoena issued by this court and covered by the FCDU law,’ Escudero said.

Escudero did not expound on what the FCDU law is, but it appears that he was referring to Republic Act No. 6426, or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines.

Section 8 of R.A. No. 6426, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1035 and Presidential Decree No. 1246, states that all foreign currency deposits ‘are hereby declared as and considered of an absolutely confidential nature.’

The same section noted that foreign currency deposits cannot be ‘examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office whether judicial or administrative or legislative, or any other entity whether public or private,’ except if the depositor allows it.

Duterte is being tried before the Senate Impeachment Court over four main allegations: the alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, alleged bribery, and alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family.

This week, the prosecution has presented evidence on Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which is about her alleged unexplained wealth and her supposed failure to disclose these in her SALNs.

Discussions have shifted to Duterte’s bank accounts after the prosecution’s witness, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, testified on Monday that the council flagged several transactions involving Duterte and her relatives worth P4.4 billion.

At one point, Buenaventura testified that Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had made P193 million worth of unique bank transactions in just one day, on March 28, 2014.

Later that day, Buenaventura testified that CALE88, the food company owned by Carpio that produces banana chips, got P319,326,770.41 from China, confirming the allegations made by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in a press conference last Friday.

Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros noted that her team studied the background of the two companies that transacted with CALE88 – China National Township Enterprises and the Beijing Jianweifang Food Company – revealing possible ties to the Chinese government.

Based on their research, Hontiveros said China National Township Enterprises used to be directly under China’s Ministry of Agriculture, being a state-owned agricultural enterprise.

Suspicious transactions are reported not solely due to negative media or gossip, Metrobank Anti-Money Laundering Division Head Atty. Niña Aguilar told the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday.

Aguilar said this during interjections from Senator-judges Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan, who asked about the basis for suspicious transaction reports (STRs) transmitted to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

‘For suspicious transaction reporting based on negative media, we generally file a suspicious transaction report if we have identified our customer as the subject of negative media and conduct further review on the transactions,’ Aguilar said.

She also shared that STRs require internal approvals, including her own, before they are submitted to the AMLC.

On Tuesday, an AMLC official bared some STRs under the accounts of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio.

Remarks under the STRs that tagged the transaction as malversation noted details from news reports.

Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano then compared using news reports as STRs without independent investigation to spreading gossip.

In his own interjection, Pangilinan pressed further on the thoroughness of reporting suspicious transactions.

‘So binubusisi niyo nang husto dahil you’re careful na hindi rin tama na magfile ng STR kung mali, o dahil walang basis o dahil news report lang?’ Pangilinan asked.

(‘So you’re scrutinizing it carefully because you’re careful that it’s not right to file an STR if it’s wrong, or because there’s no basis or because it’s just a news report?’)

Aguilar answered in the affirmative.

Pangilinan added: ‘So hindi lang base sa tsismis?’

(‘So it’s not just based on gossip?’)

‘Yes, your honor,’ Aguilar replied.