Manuel Mogato | October 4, 2026
MANILA —Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. sounded the alarm over allegations that Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, received hundreds of millions of pesos from the Chinese government, raising serious national security concerns.
Teodoro also challenged a former senator, Antonio Trillanes IV, to produce evidence that Chinese money flowed into the vice president’s husband’s Davao City-based food company. (Also read: Vice President’s younger brother denies knowledge of his sister’s business transactions)
“If substantiated, the allegations of former senator Trillanes raise serious implications for national security,” Teodoro said in a statement.
A spokesman for the vice president denied the allegations, describing them as “malicious and fabricated.”
Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr. said Trillanes’ information is false.
“The Vice President would gladly sue him for these endless fabrications, but we have already witnessed how those who actively peddle malicious lies against her and her family are openly protected and propped up by this administration,” Panelo said.