Go ‘Excited’ to Face Trillanes for 2nd Time at Senate

Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Wednesday said he is “very excited” to face Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV for a second time in a Senate probe into his relatives’ alleged multi-billion peso deals with the government.

Trillanes earlier said he would propose a Senate probe into the supposed involvement of Go in the multi-billion pesos worth of projects awarded to CLTG Builders and Alfrego Builders and Supply.

CLTG is owned by Go’s father, Deciderio, while Alfrego is owned by his brother, Alfredo.

Last January, Go and Trillanes faced each other for the first time during a Senate hearing into the latter’s intervening in the PHP18-billion Frigate Acquisition Project of the Philippine Navy.

“I’m very excited for another Senate face-off with Mr. Trillanes. Bilisan na n’ya gaya nang sinabi ko sana bukas na o ngayon kasi baka magtago na siya (He should hurry, like I said, he can have it tomorrow or even now because he might go into hiding),” Go said in an interview with reporters.

Trillanes is now under Senate custody after Duterte voided his amnesty granted by the previous administration.

Go defended his relatives’ deals, noting that figures were “bloated” and that he was being “singled out” when there were other joint ventures the senator could have looked into.

“Why single me out? Ba’t hindi nyo tingnan ‘yung ibang meron mga nakaraang joint ventures na kontrata (Why don’t you look into other joint ventures)?,” Go said.

He said his relatives’ businesses were established even before he was born.

“Hindi pa po ako pinapanganak, wala pa, wala pa ako sa mundong ito nangdidyan na po sila sa negosyong ‘yan (I wasn’t even born yet, I wasn’t in this world yet, that business has already been established),” Go said.

“Ang importante po, nakialam ba ko, kasama ba ako, involved ba ako, nandun ba ang pangalan ko (What’s important to know is if I intervened, if I’m involved, if my name is there),” he added.

Go said the two firms had no projects with the Davao city hall when he became aide of then mayor Duterte.

He added that his father and half-brother were simply “exercising their rights” when they joined the bidding of projects by the Department of Public Works and Highway, either as sole contractor or as partner, which did not disqualify them from bidding.

Go, meanwhile, reiterated his vow to resign if his influence or involvement in his relatives’ projects is proven and asked Trillanes to do the same if he failed to prove it.

“’Pag na-prove niya na (If he proved) in any form, any amount of corruption, I will resign. Pero pag hindi niya po na-prove, siya naman po ang mag-resign (but if he failed to prove it, he should resign),” he added. (PNA)