Senate panel rejects former DBM exec Lao's request for travel clearance
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate blue ribbon panel rejected the request of Lloyd Christopher Lao — whom it had previously grilled over government deals with healthcare equipment supplier Pharmally — for clearance to travel abroad although there is no order actually barring him from leaving.
At the committee's hearing on overpriced laptops sold to the education department, Sen. Francis Tolentino, who chairs the committee, said that senators voted 10-5-2 against Lao's request.
"The committee has decided to deny the request of Usec (undersecretary) Lao by virtue of a vote of 10 senators for the denial, five senators granting the request, two senators not participating," Tolentino said.
"Let the committee secretary issue the necessary letter to former Usec Lloyd Lao as well as the appropriate government agencies," he added.
Lao, at the first hearing into the laptops, said that such a move would be "just and equitable under the circumstances" given the termination of the previous Senate investigation.
Lao is subject of an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order, which cannot bar him from leaving the country, as a court-issued hold departure order would. The lookout order only sets up a mechanism that requires alerting the justice secretary or the prosecutor general if the subject attempts to leave the country.
PS-DBM in Pharmally probe
Lao served as officer-in-charge of the Department of Budget and Management’s procurement service until he resigned in June 2020. During the 18th Congress hearings of the same committee, Lao was among those who were investigated after he signed off on all of the government's pandemic deals with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
But the PS-DBM was also the subject of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's investigation into the entry-level laptops meant for public school teachers that originally cost P35,000 but were eventually listed at P58,000 per unit.
In a statement issued later Thursday afternoon, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said that rejection was the right call, pointing out that many questions from the panel's Pharmally probe still remain unanswered.
"Lao was the leader of the pack during the recent history of PS-DBM, so he must not use his resignation as a shortcut to freedom from accountability," she said.
"This issue of the overpriced DepEd laptops is just one of many investigations that need to span dealings with other agencies. We haven't forgotten the former undersecretary's role in the Pharmally scandal, which he has yet to answer for."
In the 18th Congress, the Senate panel recommended the filing of anti-graft and corruption, plunder, tax evasion, and procurement violation cases against Lao. Tolentino, now panel chair, was among the senators who did not sign the final committee report recommending charges.
Senate security failed to carry out its arrest, and Lao eventually went into hiding. He was not heard from again until this most recent probe in the 19th Congress.
"There are skeletons locked in the agency's closet, and it seems like Atty. Lao has the key," Hontiveros also said in her statement.
"If anything, he should be ready to shed light on what really happened in the many controversies surrounding the PS-DBM. It's the only way he can clear his name."
— Franco Luna
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