‘Senate panel has strong case vs Pharmally execs’

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has built a strong case to recommend the filing of criminal charges against executives of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. and several government officials in connection with the alleged anomalies in the procurement of billions of pesos worth of COVID-19 supplies, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said yesterday.

Pangilinan issued the pronouncement as the committee appears to be having trouble with two Pharmally officials: Linconn Ong, who remains under detention in the Senate but is claiming “mental torture” according to his lawyer, and Krizle Grace Mago, who remains incommunicado after promising to cooperate with the inquiry last Friday.

“We have the documents and damning testimonies,” Pangilinan told reporters in an online press conference.

“The admission of wasting P550 million worth of COVID-19 test kits alone is already an open and shut case,” he said, referring to the delivery of the testing items by Pharmally that were about to expire in three months but were accepted by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).

Senators believe Mago and Ong know a lot about how it managed to bag some P11.5 billion in supply contracts from PS-DBM despite having a capitalization of only P625,000.

Ong has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Sen. Richard Gordon, who chairs the committee, said his testimonies actually allowed the panel to uncover more irregularities, particularly when he pointed to former presidential adviser Michael Yang as one of the company’s financiers.

Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros laughed off allegations from Ong’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, that her office bribed a former warehouse worker of Pharmally to accuse the company of tampering with the certification labels of face shields for medical workers to make it appear they were new.

Hontiveros said Mago herself confirmed the testimony of the witness during the hearing last week.

“First, it was the witness who reached out to us. We have an e-mail thread to prove this. Like always, may resibo ako (I have proof),” Hontiveros said.

“We vetted the information of the witness for weeks and obtained independent corroboration of his points,” she said.

The senator said Mago’s confirmation – particularly the admission of “swindling” the government – was “unrehearsed testimony.”

“It is on the record. So they should not attempt to divert the issue,” Hontiveros said, adding she has no record at all of any witness tampering or bribery in their past exposes.

However, Topacio could not say the same thing for himself, she said, adding she is ready to face any suit that may be filed by the lawyer.

Possible arrest

The House Blue Ribbon committee yesterday warned of the possible arrest of Mago should she fail to appear in its hearing on the medical supplies procurement controversy next week.

Panel vice chair and Surigao Rep. Johnny Pimentel said the chamber may issue an order for the arrest of Mago, who went missing following her Senate testimony that the company “swindled” the government in delivering substandard face shields for medical frontliners last year.

“If our subpoena is not served, the proper course of action, the second course of action, is we usually issue a warrant of arrest. I’m not saying that we will issue the warrant of arrest right away. But that would be one of the courses of action,” he said at the weekly Ugnayan sa Batasan forum of congressmen.?The panel issued the subpoena on Mago earlier this week.

Pharmally officials issued a statement saying she is not in hiding and is only scared of further testifying before the Senate inquiry after the detention of Ong. – Edu Punay