Sotto: Pharmally exec's about-face doesn't erase testimony on face shields
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 7:20 p.m.) — A Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. officer's testimony before the Senate has more weight than her subsequent disavowal of it at the House of Representatives, Senate leadership said Monday.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said this after Pharmally officer Krizle Grace Mago resurfaced at a House panel hearing to retract her earlier confirmation to senators that the firm tampered with the expiry dates of medical-grade face shields it sold to the government.
Responding to Mago's testimony at the House, Sotto told Philstar.com: "A statement made under oath incriminating oneself has more weight than a recantation."
"Anyway, we will leave it for the Ombudsman to assess later on," he said.
"I do admit it was a pressured response," Mago told lawmakers, referring to her prior admission to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
"Given the amount of pressure that I was under at that time, and even the rush of emotions associated with the allegations made and my subsequent admission, I was not in the proper frame of mind to think clearly at that time."
Mago became unreachable to the Blue Ribbon panel after her testimony, causing senators to worry for her safety. She resurfaced under the House's protective custody on Friday night, telling lawmakers at a hearing three days later that she was no longer working for Pharmally.
Senators dispute 'pressured response' narrative
House Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta (SAGIP party-list) on Monday alleged that senators "concocted [an] environment in such a way that they will be able to extract [...] information under duress and undue influence."
In response, Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, noted on Twitter that members of the panel asked Mago fair questions and that her responses were clear.
Sens. Risa Hontiveros and Franklin Drilon in separate statements recalled that Mago immediately confirmed the Senate witness' testimony and even admitted to swindling the government after being asked just once.
Hontiveros added in Filipino: "If anyone even pressured her, it must have been a very powerful force [instructing] her to take back what she told [the Senate] first."
"It is sad that Ms. Mago feels this way. Telling the truth is a relief," she said. "The greatest pressure is to lie."
Under House's protective custody, Mago changes tune
Departing entirely from what she previously told the Senate, Mago denied the testimony of a Pharmally warehouseman to senators that the face shields delivered to the Department of Budget and Management's procurement service were "substandard" and "expired."
She also said she no longer believes that Pharmally swindled the government.
Mago did not offer any of these denials on September 24, when she first addressed the Senate witness' allegations after being named as the higher-up who instructed warehouse workers to repackage the face shields.
Instead, when she was asked to respond to the witness' testimony, she said: "With regards to the changing of the stickers of the items...That is something I cannot deny."
When she was asked by Gordon if Pharmally was swindling the government by doing this, she immediately responded: "Yes, I believe so."
President Rodrigo Duterte's allies in the Hosue have conducted a vastly different probe on Pharmally's contracts with the government than the one being conducted in the Senate.
The Senate panel has uncovered that the government's favored pandemic supplier, a new and undercapitalized firm, was backed by former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang.
Senators have also bared Pharmally's incomplete and anomalous procurement papers, and possible privileges afforded to the firm that were not extended to local manufacturers, among others.
Meanwhile, the House panel has worked to dispel allegations of overpricing in the supply contracts.
Along with Malacañang, lawmakers have emphasized the lack of overpricing or corruption findings in the Commission on Audit's 2020 report on PS-DBM.
COA has stressed that its mandate is "primarily to examine, audit, and settle accounts," as affirmed by its chairman Michael Aguinaldo. It is not COA's job to probe or prove corruption.
READ: Fact check: Is COA mandated to prove corruption in government?
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