‘You are barking [up] the wrong tree.’
These were the words used by Sen. Christopher ‘Bong’ Go when he addressed on Tuesday the plunder case and other charges filed against him by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
In a press conference, Go said Trillanes’ filing of complaints against him and ex-President Rodrigo Duterte is a mere diversionary tactic to take the public’s attention away from the anomalous flood control scandal.
‘To Trillanes: You are barking at the wrong tree. If you are really serious, why don’t you file a case against corrupt officials? 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,’ said Go.
‘The truth is already coming out, and it has been revealed who the contractors were, who the owners were, who had contractors, and who earned. They are the contractors; they are also the congressmen. Go after them, Trillanes. You don’t want to go after them because they are your financiers,’ the senator pointed out.
Go then proceeded to allege that Trillanes’ funds, when he investigated Duterte in the past, might have come from flood control kickbacks as well.
‘Don’t act as if you’re clean. Do not divert the public’s attention from the truth. Let’s stay here in the truth. Seek the truth, not the script, not the playbook,’ Go said.
‘This is just old music from an old script. This is a recycled issue, and they are trying to revive it so that they can paint me black. My conscience is clean, unlike him,’ he added.
In the same forum, Go presented news items showing Trillanes’ repeated filing of cases against him. Go said this has been going on since 2018.
He even joked about the former senator’s white polo, which he called ‘rehashed.’
‘Today, the polo he wore bore the same color he used last year. Even his polo is rehashed. He used it again, and similarly, he’s using old topics to taint my name. To make himself appear clean, he used a white polo, and yet his intentions are very dirty,’ Go observed.
Trillanes filed plunder and several other criminal complaints against Go and Duterte before the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday.
The former senator is accusing Go of funneling nearly P7 billion worth of government infrastructure projects to firms owned by the senator’s family. /apl