Trillanes: Duterte admitted to plunder when he confirmed intervening in frigate deal

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte admitted to the crime of plunder when he said that he and his former assistant, now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, intervened in the frigate deal of the Philippine Navy.

“Duterte's admission of his and Bong Go's involvement in the frigate scam is actually an admission to the crime of plunder,” Trillanes said in a message to GMA News Online.

Trillanes had sought a Senate investigation into the matter.

He said the findings during the Senate investigation showed that Duterte and Go's interventions in behalf of a South Korean company helped the firm make billions of pesos in profit.

Trillanes said the intervention forced the Philippine Navy to accept several substandard equipment, such as the combat management system, that were different from the list specified in the original contract.

“And when then Navy Flag Officer In Command (Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph) Mercado insisted that the contract be implemented faithfully, Duterte had him fired unceremoniously,” said Trillanes.

“These acts made the contract grossly disadvantageous to our government and left the Philippine Navy with an expensive platform with limited capabilities,” he added.

Malacañang just shrugged off Trillanes’ latest statement against the President.

“Who is he? Wala na siya sa Senado. We don’t respond to nonsense,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said at a news conference.

During his fourth State of the Nation Address, Duterte said it was he who tasked Go to talk to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana regarding the matter, after the Korean contractor of the ships complained about their delivery. 

Mercado was removed from his post in December 2017 because of supposed insubordination and usurpation of authority.

He was opposed to Korean contractor Hyundai Heavy Industries' decision to source the frigate's combat management system (CMS) from its supplier Hanwha.

Mercado argued that the CMS provided by HHI's preferred supplier Hanwha was incompatible with the navy frigates and that the better suited CMS should be supplied by European firm Thales Tacticos. —With a report from Virgil Lopez/KG, GMA News