MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has once again filed graft and plunder charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bong Go.
This time, the lawsuit includes several former officials of the Department of National Defense over the allegedly anomalous P16 billion frigate acquisition project.
The 50-page complaint, filed before the Department of Justice on Wednesday, claims that the supposed “modern frigates or state-of-the-art warships” were downgraded into ordinary naval ships due to the “manipulation” of Duterte, Go and the Presidential Management Staff.
The frigate acquisition project is part of the Horizon 1 phase of the armed forces’ modernization program, which ran from 2013 to 2017. During this phase, the government allocated P75 billion for the purchase of two frigates for the Philippine Navy.
The complaint stems from the selection of the combat management system for the frigates, where the government was given a choice between the Hanwha system from Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries or the Tacticos Thales system from France.
According to Trillanes’ complaint, Duterte and Go, with the assistance of former Budget Usec. Christopher Lao, “actively interfered” during the execution of the subject contract agreement by favoring the Korea-based corporation, which is “cheaper,” “disadvantageous,” and “non-compliant” compared with the Tacticos Thales combat system preferred by the Philippine Navy.
The choice, he argued, caused “damaged and undue injury” to the armed forces and the government, costing them more than P50 million.
Aside from Duterte and Go, the other respondents to the complaint include:
- Christopher Lao, former budget undersecretary
- Robert Empedrad, former navy admiral
- Raymundo Elefante, former finance undersecretary
- Leodegario Dela Paz, former defense acquisition chief
- Marlon Dayao
- Kishun Chung
- Ki Young Sung
- Joung Woo Byun
- Sandra Han
Go’s response. In response to the new complaint, Go called Trillanes’ allegations “recycled” and another form of “black propaganda.”
“This issue has once again been rehashed and recycled for obvious politicking purposes. This is a clear case of destructive politics and a sure sign of desperation out to malign me and the former President. Nevertheless, I welcome these moves to finally put an end to these lies,” Go said in a statement.
Cases against the ex-president. This is the third criminal charge filed against Duterte since his term ended in 2022. The first was a grave threat charge, filed by Rep. France Castro (ACT-Teachers) on Oct. 24, 2023, which was later junked by the prosecutor.
On July 5, Trillanes filed the second case against the former president and Go, accusing them of plunder in connection with P6.6 billion worth of questionable infrastructure projects allegedly awarded to Go’s family members.
Be the first to comment