MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Thursday, November 9, said the allegations of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV against its chairman, Senator Richard Gordon, are “based on misleading and outdated facts.”

In a statement, PRC Secretary General Oscar Palabyab said Trillanes is raising the same issues and allegations that “were already duly investigated and settled before.”

“On the alleged misuse of [Priority Development Assistance] funds, these refer to projects that the PRC undertook as an implementing agency of the [Department of Social Welfare and Development] in the past. Senator Richard J. Gordon had no participation at all in the implementation of those projects and the disbursement of the funds the PRC received from the DSWD,” Palabyab said.

On Thursday, Palabyab said the PRC submitted proper liquidation reports, even providing answers and explanations during the “tedious” liquidation process.

“Among the many agencies that implemented projects under the DSWD, the PRC is one among those most compliant and responsive,” he said.

According to him, these issues are “now being sensationalized to the prejudice of the PRC.”

Palabyab was all praises for Gordon, who he said transformed the PRC into a “robust, modernized, well-equipped, and foremost humanitarian organization” in the Philippines.

“We are confident too that Senator Gordon can very well defend himself and clear his good name as a long time Red Cross volunteer and humanitarian worker who happens to be a senator of the Republic, who fearlessly pursues his advocacies for good governance and the public good,” he added.

For now, Palabyab said they will “let the wheels of justice take its own course” since the case has already been filed,

Trillanes filed a plunder complaint against Gordon before the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday, November 8, over anomalies in the P193-million worth of pork barrel allocated to the PRC.

In his complaint, Trillanes rehashed the accusation that Gordon used Red Cross funds for the latter’s presidential campaign in 2010 and senatorial campaign in 2013. – Rappler.com