Trillanes files plunder, graft charges vs former President Duterte

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:19 p.m.) — Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Friday filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) plunder, graft and corruption charges against former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Bong Go and two other individuals related to the senator over infrastructure contracts in Davao City. 

The former senator, a staunch critic of Duterte, said that his office collected evidence indicating that Duterte and Go allegedly facilitated corrupt practices, specifically the continuous awarding of government contracts to infrastructure firms owned by Go’s father and brother, totaling P6.6 billion in contracts from 2007 to 2018.

This is the second criminal charge filed against the former president since his term ended in 2022. The first was filed on Oct. 24, 2023, when Rep. France Castro (ACT-Teachers) filed grave threat charges against Duterte. However, the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the charges saying that the evidence is “insufficient”.

In this case, Duterte and Go were accused of violating Republic Act (RA) No. 7080, or the Anti-Plunder Act; RA No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and RA No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. 

According to Trillanes’ complaint, Duterte and Go are guilty of the crime of plunder as they were public officials and they allegedly used their position to continuously award the construction firms of Go’s father and brother contracts worth billions of pesos. 

The firms owned by Go’s father and brother mentioned in the complaint are CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders & Supply.

“Interestingly, it was during the period when Respondent Bong Go was appointed to a cabinet post by Respondent Duterte that CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders & Supply, were awarded an overwhelming number of substantial and sizeable projects worth billions of pesos,” Trillanes’ complaint read. 

“How CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders & Supply still managed to continuously win billions of pesos worth of government projects in Davao despite their limited contracting capacity and numerous shortcomings, is hardly a conundrum. While CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders & Supply were purportedly qualified by some color of legality, a review of the number of their pending and unfinished projects alone should have been an additional sufficient criterion to eliminate them from the list of candidates for succeeding contracts,” it added.

"CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders & Supply could not have been awarded the enormous projects were it not for Respondent Bong Go and his connection to the seat of power – Respondent Duterte, who is constitutionally responsible for the annual budget proposal which serves as the basis for the annual general appropriation bill41, and who is also constitutionally vested with the power of control over all executive departments including the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Public Works and Highways," the complaint furthered.

Trillanes also said that the total amount involved in the contracts exceeded the threshold amount stated in the Anti-Plunder Act of an aggregate amount or total value of at least P50 million.

When asked why he filed the complaint before the DOJ instead of the Office of the Ombudsman, the agency responsible for handling corruption cases involving public officials, Trillanes explained that he thinks the DOJ has better access to other agencies to verify the information they provided.

“Unang-una dahil may concurrent jurisdiction tapos naniniwala tayo na mas may access yung DOJ sa iba’t ibang ahensya to validate ‘yung mga dokumento na finile namin sa DPWH, sa DTI, at sa COA,” Trillanes said in an ambush interview with reporters.

(First because there is concurrent jurisdiction and we believe that the DOJ has more access to other agencies to validate the documents that we filed in the DPWH, DTI, and COA.)

Go denies Trillanes' claims

In a Viber message, Go denied the accusations of Trillanes, saying that it is the "same accusation" hurled against him before.

"I have yet to see the verified complaint. But, since this is essentially the same accusation they hurled against me before, I categorically deny the allegations against me and former President Rodrigo Duterte.Nevertheless, I welcome these moves to finally put an end to these often-recycled issues against us," he said in a statement.

"Mabuti nang silipin sa mga akusasyong ito, may irregularity ba talaga? May naging transaksyon ba na disadvantageous sa government? May nanakaw ba? At may linkages ba sa akin na nagsasabing nakinabang ako sa anumang transaksyong ito? COA (Commission on Audit) can find out. And, if there is, it is for COA to file the necessary charges," he added.

(It is better to look at these allegations, is there really an irregularity? Are there transactions disadvantageous to the government? Was there stealing? Are there linkages saying I benefitted from these transactions? COA can find out. And, if there is, it is for COA to file the necessary charges.)

The senator also said his family already has a business before he was born.