Login
To share your thoughts
Don't have an account?
Check your inbox
We just sent a link to your inbox. Click the link to continue signing in. Can’t find it? Check your spam & junk mail.
Didn't get a link?
Sign up
Ready to get started
Already have an account?
Check your inbox
We just sent a link to your inbox. Click the link to continue registering. Can’t find it? Check your spam & junk mail.
Didn't get a link?
Join Rappler+
How often would you like to pay?
Monthly Subscription
Your payment was interrupted
Exiting the registration flow at this point will mean you will loose your progress
Your payment didn’t go through
Exiting the registration flow at this point will mean you will loose your progress
MANILA, Philippines – Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is set to file plunder charges against Senator Richard Gordon over alleged corruption in the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).
Trillanes said this is on top of the ethics complaint that he would file against Gordon, who earlier filed a similar case against him before the Senate ethics and privileges committee.
“‘Di lang ethics complaint, criminal complaint din (Not just an ethics complaint, but also a criminal complaint). I intend to file a plunder case against Senator Gordon,” Trillanes said in a press conference on Thursday, September 28, 2017.
Trillanes, in an earlier privilege speech, said he would expose Gordon’s anomalies in the Red Cross.
The two earlier faced off after Trillanes called Gordon’s blue ribbon committee as “comite de absuwelto” for clearing President Rodrigo Duterte and his families.
At the time, Gordon responded to Trillanes' speech and said he does not get "any salary or allowances" from the organization. He also lamented Trillanes' attacks on the PRC.
"I am also a governor of the International Federation of the Red Cross. I just appeal to the senators to be very, very careful. You may hurt me but not the movement," Gordon said.
"But to malign the Red Cross in this hall... That has always been the problem. He thinks he does his job by making sure his conclusions are in his mind and when he asks questions, he thinks he's already proven his point. That's why he's trying hard to understand what hearsay is," he added.
The Senate ethics committee has found Gordon’s complaint against Trillanes as sufficient in form and substance
But Trillanes is positive the case would not prosper.
“It will not reach second base, hanggang filing na lang yan. Wala akong ginawang unparliamentry. Alam ng mga senador yan,” Trillanes said.
(It will not reach second base, it will end at filing. I have done nothing unparliamentary. The senators know that.) – Rappler.com
Camille Elemia is Rappler's lead reporter for media, disinformation, and democracy. She won an ILO award in 2017. She received the prestigious Fulbright-Hubert Humphrey fellowship in 2019, allowing her to further study media and politics in the US. Email camille.elemia@rappler.com