THE Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered the three sisters who control Vibal Group, Inc. (VGI), one of the Philippines’ oldest educational publishing houses, to respond to allegations of syndicated estafa involving an estimated P1.6-billion fraud scheme.
In a subpoena dated March 19, Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Joselito C. Bacolor of the Quezon City Office of the City Prosecutor directed the three sisters to appear and submit their counter-affidavits on April 16 and April 30. The order follows a case build-up by the DoJ to determine the sufficiency of evidence in the criminal complaint.
“We have not yet received a copy of this syndicated estafa case filed by Mandigma. Without a copy of the complaint, we cannot give a comment in relation to this case,” Rizzle May R. Ostia-Alburo, legal counsel for the Vibal sisters, told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.
“We believe that this case is part of Mandigma’s retaliation for having been terminated in VGI as CEO (chief executive officer),” she added.
The complaint, filed by reinstated Vibal CEO Maria Kristine E. Mandigma, cites 458 counts of syndicated estafa against the sisters, who serve as directors and top officers of VGI and its related entities. Under Philippine law, syndicated estafa is a non-bailable offense punishable by life imprisonment.
The sisters are also facing charges of “estafa through falsification of commercial and private documents and obstruction of justice.” The complaint names 11 other respondents, including former accounting and management personnel of the Vibal Group.
According to Ms. Mandigma’s complaint-affidavit, the case allegedly stems from a 2025 internal review of archival records that allegedly uncovered a “long-running fraudulent financial scheme.”
The respondents allegedly utilized fictitious supplier invoices to increase recorded costs and facilitate the unlawful diversion of corporate funds into personal and joint bank accounts controlled by the sisters and the late Vibal matriarch.
Internal records, as cited in the complaint, indicate that between 2003 and 2014, one primary supplier alone accounted for over P2.05 billion in purported paper purchases that could not be reconciled with the company’s actual production requirements or revenues. The complaint further alleges that these funds were used for personal expenses, real estate acquisitions, and “advances” that were later cycled back into the company to create a false appearance of shareholder capitalization.
This DoJ subpoena follows separate regulatory action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which in February ordered the sisters to answer a complaint for alleged violations of the Revised Corporation Code.
Ms. Mandigma, the complainant, said in her affidavit that she was recently reinstated as CEO by a January 2026 decision of the National Labor Relations Commission, after which she moved to formalize the criminal charges. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking
