Former Pres. Duterte, Sen. Go charged with plunder before DOJ

Transcript

00:00Timing is everything for a former lawmaker, especially when making a move against a political

00:05opponent.

00:07That time has actually come for a former upper chamber so long who filed a plunder case against

00:12two powerful figures whom he now wants to be held accountable or at least try.

00:17The details in this report.

00:22Former President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Christopher Goh have been sued for plunder

00:26in the Department of Justice.

00:28Over 129 anomalously obtained government contracts handed to the construction company owned by

00:34Goh's father and brother to the tune of 6.6 billion pesos.

00:38In a 30-page complaint affidavit filed by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, he detailed

00:45how CLTG Builders owned by the Goh family obtained several large government contracts

00:50during the Duterte administration.

00:53CLTG Builders owned by Senator Goh's father, Desiderio, obtained a total of 125 government

01:00contracts worth 4.89 billion pesos from 2007 to 2018.

01:07Goh's brother, Alfredo, also obtained 59 government contracts under the Alfredo Builders and Supply

01:12Company for 1.74 billion pesos.

01:16Both companies had no contractor's license to handle such a large-scale project.

01:21In 2018, when he was in office, former President Duterte is alleged to have manipulated 23

01:27government projects worth 1.3 billion pesos to a preferred contractor or individual.

01:33According to Trillanes, Duterte and Goh allegedly used their position, power, and influence

01:38to wheel and deal a billion pesos worth of government projects their way.

01:43When Duterte's administration controlled the judicature, the environment is conducive

01:51to file this case because we saw that our judicature is no longer influenced.

01:59The former senator requests the DOJ's National Prosecutor's Service to begin the preliminary

02:04investigation and to file appropriate cases in court against Goh and the former president.

02:09Meanwhile, Senator Goh strongly denies the accusations thrown at him by the former senator.

02:15Goh said his family has been in business way, way before he was born and assures neither

02:20he nor his family has benefited financially or in kind in his entire career in government,

02:26in Davao, in Malacañang, and in the Senate.

02:29Goh says the allegations are the same old ones from 2018, recycled and rehashed in 2021

02:35and 2025, and reconstituted once again at this time as the 2025 elections draw near.

02:42He insists the accusations are full of noise and hot air and nothing else.

02:47This is Sharms Espina from the National TV Network for a new and better Philippines.