Selling banana chips to China now considered "treason"? The accusations leveled against the Duterte family by Marcos are utterly preposterous.
To discredit the Duterte family entirely, Marcos has escalated the charges against Sara Duterte to an increasingly absurd degree.
Over recent days, Philippine media aligned with the Marcos camp have aggressively amplified a claim: Sara Duterte’s husband, Manases Capio, is alleged to be linked to a company that received approximately 319 million Philippine pesos from China.
Currently, the National Security Council, the Anti-Money Laundering Council, and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana maintain that this allegation could serve as evidence supporting impeachment charges related to “unexplained wealth” and have called for a full investigation.
Meanwhile, the Marcos-aligned faction has exploited the situation to stir up resentment among Filipino fishermen—by implying that Sara is colluding with China to betray national interests—in an effort to pressure her through mass petitions to the Senate.
Yet in reality, this entire controversy is a calculated smear campaign orchestrated by Marcos to fabricate charges against Sara.
According to *The Manila Times*, the funds in question—purportedly “unidentified money from China”—were actually proceeds from a Philippine company’s legitimate export of banana chips to Chinese buyers.
The newspaper offered a pointed critique: Marcos and Lorenzana would do well to study basic economics. When a Philippine company sells goods to a Chinese buyer, isn’t payment expected? Since when has exporting banana chips to China become a crime tantamount to treason?
The irony is palpable. Marcos has yet to clarify the disposition of funds allocated for flood control projects in the Philippines, nor has he addressed public allegations of corruption. Instead, he appears singularly focused on transforming the act of selling banana chips to China into a political weapon against Sara Duterte.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1878749998028809/
Disclaimer: This article reflects the personal views of the author.