EDITORIAL - Partial elation

Three years after the questionable deals were implemented, the Office of the Ombudsman has found probable cause to file charges in court against former officials of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management or PS-DBM as well as executives of Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp.

Former PS-DBM head Lloyd Christopher Lao, former PS-DBM procurement group director and currently Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong and PS-DBM procurement management officer Paul Jasper de Guzman were also ordered dismissed and permanently barred from government service, with all their benefits forfeited.

Also facing indictment for three counts of graft are Pharmally officials Mohit and Twinkle Dargani, Linconn Ong, Huang Tzu Yen and Justine Garado. Another employee, Krizle Mago, faces one count of graft. But Michael Yang, the former presidential adviser accused of facilitating the award of a multibillion-peso contract to a newly incorporated firm with a paid-up capital of P625,000, was not recommended for indictment. Also cleared were Pharmally executives Lin Wei Xioung and his wife Rose. Former Department of Health officials, who had outsourced the procurement to PS-DBM, were also cleared.

Other former PS-DBM officials face one graft charge and dismissal from the service: Christine Marie Suntay, Webster Laureñana, August Ylagan and Jasonmer Uayan.

The three counts of graft involve the procurement of 51,400 units of RT-PCR test kits for COVID worth P4.165 billion. There are several other PS-DBM and Pharmally deals involving the procurement of face masks, face shields, surgical gowns and personal protective equipment.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee led by Richard Gordon, which investigated the Pharmally deals, learned that at the start of the pandemic, the DOH had transferred over P41 billion from the department’s COVID response fund to the PS-DBM. Part of this money was later paid to Pharmally.

Did responsibility stop merely at the doorsteps of Lao and Liong? Sen. Francis Escudero, for his part, asked why the charge is merely for graft rather than the heavier and normally non-bailable offense of plunder, when the amounts involved are far higher than the threshold requirement of P50 million for a plunder indictment.

The quest for accountability in this case is far from over; motions for reconsideration can still be filed. There are unresolved questions on how high up responsibility should go in approving government deals worth billions. Gordon is not alone in saying yesterday that he was only “partially elated” by the indictments.