Plunder raps revived vs Du30, Go over infra deals
Reviving a 2024 complaint dismissed by the previous Ombudsman, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has again sued former President Rodrigo Duterte and his longtime aide, Sen. Bong Go, over the more than two hundred public works contracts awarded to two companies owned by Go’s family.
The new complaint filed on Tuesday again alleged that the companies had cornered nearly P7 billion worth of contracts since 2007—all as windfall from Go’s position as loyal aide and “alter ego” of Duterte.
It accused the former president, Go and two of the senator’s family members—his father Deciderio and brother Alfred—of graft, violation of the code conduct for government personnel, and plunder, the last a nonbailable offense.
“Respondent Go clearly took advantage of his public positions as an aide and alter ego of Respondent Duterte, in cornering illicitly billions upon billions of public infrastructure projects in favor of the unqualified sole proprietorship registered in the names of his father and brother, thus, unduly enriching himself and members of his immediate family,” the complaint said.
“Respondent Duterte, who is a lawyer and a former public prosecutor, consciously, knowingly and deliberately connived with him and/or indulged him in this illicit scheme, obviously as a reward for respondent Go’s blind and canine loyalty…,” it added.
Trillanes said his first complaint was filed in July 2024 at the Department of Justice and was endorsed to the Ombudsman five days later by Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento.
On June 2 this year, then Ombudsman Samuel Martires dismissed the complaint, he recalled.
In an interview with reporters, Trillanes said that when it reached the Ombudsman back then, “not even a day or an hour was devoted to investigating it. They really buried it.
Rehash, tactic
But the dismissal was ‘’without prejudice’’ or did not preclude refiling, he said, “so we had an opportunity to add to what we earlier filed.”
Go, who served as special assistant to the President during Duterte’s term in Malacañang, said he was expecting such a move from Trillanes, calling it a rehash of the 2024 complaint and a tactic to divert public attention away from real culprits in the public works corruption scandal.
In the 35-page complaint filed on Tuesday, Trillanes accused Duterte and Go of conniving so that contracts for infrastructure projects would go to CLTG Builders, which is owned by Go’s father, and Alfrego Builders & Supply, which is controlled by the senator’s brother.
It said the two firms “cornered approximately P6.95 billion in government infrastructure projects from 2016 to the present,” involving more than 200 projects mostly in the Davao region.
According to Trillanes, Duterte and Go had been committing these acts since the former’s tenure as mayor of Davao City until his presidency. Duterte was mayor of Davao City from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, and 2013 to 2016, the year he ran and won for president.
Trillanes said more than P816 million of the contracts were secured through a joint venture between CLTG Builders and St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor & Development Corp., a company owned by the couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya, who have been linked to anomalous flood control projects under investigation since August this year.
Flood control projects
Citing data from the Commission on Audit (COA), Trillanes alleged that CLTG was awarded 125 projects in Davao region by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from March 2007 to May 2018.
Some of the projects were under Duterte’s centerpiece “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program, he said, with COA records showing that CLTG secured 27 projects worth about P3.2 billion in 2017 alone.
On the other hand, Alfrego won 59 public works projects in Davao region from June 2007 to July 2018 amounting to P1.74 billion, according to the complaint
Trillanes noted that in 2018, Alfrego won contracts for 23 projects costing a total of P1.3 billion.
Also under Marcos
Alfrego also cornered five flood control projects during the Marcos administration, all in Davao del Sur.
“These projects amounted to P327.2 million worth of flood-control projects, all reported by the DPWH to have been completed within just a little over one year, ranging from August 2023 to November 2024,” the former senator said in the complaint.
Aside from the COA records, the complaint also cited entries in the Sumbong sa Pangulo website, the online complaint desk ordered set up by President Marcos, to identify the five Davao City flood control projects:
- Construction of concrete revetment on the Balite section of Talomo River (P86,513,783.34)
- Construction of concrete revetment on the Los Amigos section of Talomo River (P48,866,414.37)
- Construction of concrete revetment on a section of Davao River (P96,498,666.24)
- Construction of concrete revetment on a section of Talomo River (P47,647,054.64)
- Construction of concrete revetment on another section of Talomo River (P7,696,875.08)
Baseless claims
In a press conference on Tuesday, Go did not confirm or deny the contracts and the amounts cited by Trillanes, only saying that the filing would finally give him “the proper forum to prove the baselessness of his allegations.’’
his allegations.’’ “I now have the opportunity to answer him point by point before the Ombudsman and not in the media anymore,” he said.
“I will cooperate with the investigation and abide by its legal processes… I hope that the Ombudsman (Jesus Crispin Remulla) will be fair,” the senator added.
He said Trillanes was “barking [up] the wrong tree,” daring him to file cases against the public works contractors being questioned in the congressional hearings.
“Why don’t you file a case against your financiers? Those contractors. You know that. We’ve been holding hearings here in the Senate about that for months now,” he said. “The truth is already coming out and it has been revealed who the contractors were… they are also the congressmen. Go after them, Trillanes.’’
Go insisted he had nothing to do with the operations of his family’s businesses, which he said had been in operation even before he was born.
Duterte was arrested in March and handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, the Netherlands. He has since been detained at an ICC facility on charges of crimes against humanity for the thousands killed in his antidrug campaign.
Trillanes is one of the parties pursuing the ICC case. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
