The Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered three sisters who control the Vibal Group, Inc. (VGI), one of the oldest academic publishing houses in the Philippines, to answer for alleged estafa transactions involving an estimated P1.6-billion fraud scheme.
In a meeting dated March 19, Chief City Prosecutor Joselito C. Bacolor of the Quezon City Office of the City Prosecutor ordered the three sisters to appear and submit their affidavits on April 16 and April 30. This order follows the formulation of a case by the DoJ to determine the sufficiency of evidence in a criminal complaint.
“We have not received a copy of the consolidated lawsuit filed by Mandigma. Without a copy of the complaint, we cannot comment on the lawsuit,” Rizzle May R. Ostia-Alburo, the lawyer for the Vibal sisters, told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.
“We believe that this case is part of Mandigma’s revenge for the withdrawal of VGI as CEO (chief executive officer),” he added.
The complaint, filed by the reinstated CEO of Vibal, Maria Kristine E. Mandigma, lists 458 counts of estafa against the sisters, who serve as directors and senior officers of VGI and its related entities. Under Philippine law, compound estafa is a non-bailable offense punishable by life imprisonment.
The sisters also face charges of “estafa for falsifying commercial and confidential documents and obstructing the operation of the law.” The complaint names 11 other respondents, including former accounting staff and executives of the Vibal Group.
According to the complaint affidavit of Ms.
Respondents allegedly used fake supplier invoices to inflate recorded expenses and facilitate the illegal diversion of corporate funds into personal and joint accounts controlled by the sisters and the late Vibal matriarch.
Internal records, as cited in the complaint, show that between 2003 and 2014, one major supplier alone made more than P2.05 billion in paper purchases that could not be reconciled with actual production needs or revenues. The complaint goes on to say that these funds were used for personal expenses, real estate purchases, and “improvements” that were later cycled back to the company to create a false appearance of shareholder funds.
The DoJ subpoena follows separate regulatory actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which in February ordered the sisters to respond to a complaint alleging violations of the Revised Corporation Code.
Mrs. Mandigma, the complainant, in his affidavit said he was recently reinstated as CEO by the January 2026 decision of the National Labor Relations Commission, after which he took steps to legalize the criminal charges. – Erika Mae P. Sinaking
