Duterte, Go sued anew, now over warship deal

MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV filed another plunder complaint in the Department of Justice against former President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go on Wednesday for allegedly manipulating a P16-billion contract for two Navy ships with “stripped-down capabilities” instead of modern frigates or state-of-the-art warships.

Trillanes, a former Navy officer, charged the ex-President, his then close aide, and several other government officials and officers of a South Korean shipbuilder with violating the plunder law, or Republic Act No. 7080, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.

READ: A timeline: Philippine Navy rides waves of frigates deal

Also named respondents were former Defense Undersecretary Raymundo Elefante, former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, retired Navy chief Vice Adm. Robert Empedrad, former defense acquisition chief Leodegario dela Paz and Marlon Dayao, legal officer of the project’s technical working group.

Included in the complaint were Kisun Chung, Ki Young Sung, Joung Woo Byun and Sandra Han of Hyundai Heavy Industries Inc. (HHI), which won the contract in 2016 to build two frigates, which were to be the most modern warships of the country.

Trillanes said “the aggregate amount or total value of the ill-gotten wealth amassed, accumulated or acquired” allegedly by Duterte, Go and the others from the contract between the government and HHI for the frigate acquisition program “is at least P50,000,000.00.”

On his X account, Trillanes said he had vowed that he would file plunder charges against Duterte and Go after they leave Malacañang.

READ: Trillanes hounds Duterte, Go with P6-B plunder rap

On July 5, he filed a plunder complaint against Duterte for allegedly using his position as mayor and later as President to award P6.6 billion worth of public works contracts to allegedly “unqualified” companies owned by Go’s father and half brother.

In his latest complaint, the former senator said Duterte and the other government officials used their positions to plunder state funds through “misappropriation, conversion, misuse, or malversation of public funds” or through direct or indirect commission, or gifts, shares, kickbacks or other “pecuniary benefits” from the South Korean company.

Go, who was special assistant to the President during Duterte’s term, dismissed the plunder complaint as “another black propaganda” against him and the former president, pointing out that the Senate had previously cleared him of any wrongdoing in the acquisition of the warships.

According to Go, he would rather focus his attention on his job as a lawmaker than “waste my time” answering the “rehashed accusations” that Trillanes had allegedly invented.

But he welcomed the filing of the complaint “to finally put an end to these lies.”

“This issue has once again been rehashed and recycled for obvious politicking purposes,” Go said in a statement. “This is a clear case of destructive politics and sure sign of desperation out to malign me and the former president.”

Bidding under P-Noy

The procurement of the warships began during the term of the late President Benigno Aquino III, when the Department of National Defense (DND) opened the bidding in October 2013 for two brand-new frigates for the Navy, a major “modernization” project of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The project had an approved budget of P18 billion.

Controversy over the project erupted in late 2017 after then Navy chief Vice Adm. Ronald Joseph Mercado was sacked for pushing the combat management systems (CMS) made by Tacticos of Thales Nederland, which was chosen by the Navy’s technical working group and compliant with the contract.

Trillanes, one of the most strident critics of Duterte, said in his 50-page complaint that the type of CMS chosen was “highly important” as it would serve as the “brain of a warship and a critical component of a naval ship’s combat systems.”

“Its purpose is to provide a solid background for all the other systems, including the weapon system, sensors, communication and navigation, among others, onboard the frigate,” he said.

‘Maker list’

According to Trillanes, the respondents allegedly “manipulated” the process to push for and implement a “dubious and clearly disadvantageous maker list,” which included a provision allowing the shipbuilder to select all the major equipment, such as the CMS.

The HHI preferred the CMS from South Korean company, Hanwha Systems, which was “not yet tested by other navies in the world,” Trillanes said on X.

He noted that the maker list was approved even though it did not conform to the specifications prescribed by the project management team, the AFP and the Philippine Navy.

Trillanes said Duterte and the others “unduly favored” HHI in procuring “a cheaper and more disadvantageous and noncompliant brand of CMS for the frigates of the Philippine Navy, thereby causing damage and undue injury” to the AFP, the Navy and the government.

To support his claims, Trillanes pointed out that on Oct. 24, 2016, while the contract agreement was being signed, a separate meeting was held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila with senior managers from HHI and selected members of the project’s technical working group headed by Empedrad “where a different version of the maker list was signed” by Byun of HHI and Dayao.

Potential savings

Trillanes said the Navy “discovered” that HHI would save more than P1 billion if Hanwha were chosen for the warships’ CMS.

The dispute over which CMS would be used—Tacticos or Hanwha—resulted in a “stalemate” that was broken after HHI “found a padrino in Malacañang—Bong Go,” he said.

Trillanes also cited a “white paper with a note” that former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana gave to Mercado, supposedly endorsing the CMS supplier chosen by HHI.

Lorenzana sent the document to Mercado with a signed Post-it note saying it was given to him by Go, who was then the special assistant to the president, to “prepare a report/rebuttal” to be submitted to Duterte, Trillanes said.

“Obviously, someone is lobbying to the President Respondent Duterte through his long trusted aide Respondent Bong Go for HHI to be given the right to select the CMS for the [project], despite the fact that the same is against the Philippine Navy, AFP, DND and the country’s interest,” he added.

Why the interest?

In addition, the ex-senator said Lao, who was then an undersecretary in the Presidential Management Staff-Office of the Special Assistant to the President, called Empedrad to come to Malacañang on Jan. 20, 2017, to discuss the CMS selection.

“Why would the Office of the President through the Office of SAP-PMS be interested [in] such technical issues of CMS, if not to interfere with the execution of the contract of agreement involving the [project]?” Trillanes said.

“These unconscionable and outrageous actions of the Respondents can be characterized as pure betrayal of public trust,” he added.

HHI had offered to bankroll expenses for the full integration of the CMS to Tactical Data Link 16 should there be problems with the two frigates it had built.

Link 16 is a military network used by Nato and allied forces to exchange data in real-time.

BRPs Rizal, Luna

The first frigate, BRP Jose Rizal, arrived in Manila in May 2020, and the second, BRP Antonio Luna, in February 2021.

Before Rizal and Luna, which are both missile-capable, the Philippine Navy’s most advanced warships were hand-me-downs from the country’s allies.

These were the former Pohang-class corvette from South Korea, BRP Conrado Yap, and former US Coast Guard cutters, which are now Del Pilar-class ships—BRP Gregorio del Pilar, BRP Ramon Alcaraz and BRP Andres Bonifacio.

The Navy chief at the time, Vice Adm. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, said the Rizal-class warships would be deployed for sovereignty patrols and “show the flag missions,” among others, around the archipelago, including the West Philippine Sea and Benham Rise. —with reports from Marlon Ramos, Frances Mangosing and Inquirer Research