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Friday, March 29, 2024

Palace on Pharmally report: Not official

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The Palace on Wednesday declined to comment on a Senate Blue Ribbon report that found President Duterte betrayed the public trust by doing nothing about billions of pesos worth of irregular government contracts with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., saying the findings were not yet final.

“The report is yet to be adopted by the committee. It was a partial, unofficial finding,” said acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles.

“It’s something we cannot comment on because it is not yet official,” Nograles said, adding that they have yet to receive a copy of the draft report.

Senator Richard Gordon on Wednesday admitted the report has yet to be signed by other members of the Blue Ribbon committee.

“Because we were on lockdown, we are only communicating through our mobile phones. [But] we have a substantial number [of senators] and we intend to bring it to the floor and they said they will support it,” he said.

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He said some administration allies were reaching out to his colleagues in the Senate, however.

“I know some people are starting to reach out to other senators. We are just praying the truth will not be blocked,” he said.

“I hope the Senate does not get divided. It will be tragic if the Senate becomes divided on a partisan basis. If the Senate is to be divided, it should be between truth and lies, and I hope my colleagues will side with the truth,” he said.

Among the senators who have expressed support for the draft report are Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Senators Manny Pacquiao, Grace Poe, and Pia Cayetano.

“I fully support the Blue Ribbon Committee Report. Everything that Senator Gordon said there is true,” he said in Filipino, adding that he signed the draft report “with no reservations.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Blue Ribbon committee that investigated the questionable government purchases of pandemic supplies from Pharmally said his committee found no evidence to recommend the filing of charges against President Duterte or his former economic adviser, Chinese businessman Michael Yang.

Rep. Michael Aglipay of DIWA party-list group, the committee chairman, made the statement in response to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee findings that President Duterte betrayed the public trust in connection with his actions related to the government’s multi-billion-peso contracts with Pharmally.

“There is no evidence to support the other charges,” Aglipay said in a Viber message in response to the Senate panel’s report.
Similarly, Aglipay said “Michael Yang, he is not liable in this Pharmally case,” adding that it was not a crime to lend money.

The Senate panel also recommended the filing of criminal charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and other former government officials over the alleged misuse of COVID-19 pandemic response funds.

But Aglipay said he stands by the report of his own committee even if its findings were different from the Senate panel’s.

“We stand by our own findings knowing that we have based our recommendation on testimonial and documentary evidence only,” Aglipay said.

The initial 113-page partial report of the committee chaired by Gordon said Duque transferred a total of P41.4 billion to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) during the height of the pandemic in 2020. Part of these funds went to

Pharmally, an under-capitalized start-up with no track record that bagged P11 billion in government contracts for face masks, face shields, and personal protective equipment.

Duque on Wednesday assailed the Senate Blue Ribbon committee for turning a blind eye to the fact that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and not the Department of Health (DOH) handled all COVID-19 response purchases.

“We at the DOH were not part of the activity as we were focused on the medical side of the pandemic response,” Duque said.

In its initial report, the Blue Ribbon committee recommended the graft and plunder charges be filed against Duque.

Gordon’s committee also considered filing charges against President Rodrigo Duterte, but noted the President enjoyed immunity from suit while he is still in office.

The President, the committee said, betrayed public trust, in violation of his oath of office under the 1987 Constitution, in connection with his actions related to the controversial deal with Pharmally.

Citing the law that the President could not be sued during his tenure of office or actual incumbency, the panel said the charges against Duterte should be dealt with after he leaves office.

For violation of the Plunder Law, it also recommended charges against Yang, former Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM) officer-in-charge Christopher Lloyd Lao, Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong, Pharmally executives Linconn Ong, Mohit Dargani, Twinkle Dargani, Krizle Grace Mago, Huang Tzu Yen as well as Chinese businessman Lin Weixiong.

The same names along with DBM official Dickson Panti should also be charged with violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the report said, for their alleged involvement in the multi-billion-peso contracts with the pharmaceutical firm.

A former adviser to the government’s pandemic response, Dr. Anthony Leachon, supported the Blue Ribbon finding.

“We are delighted to know that there are men and women of integrity in the Senate that will stand for truth and justice for our country on the edge of chaos during the pandemic,” he said.

“We support the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in its investigation to seek the truth and crush corruption that has severely crippled our society. Public office is a public trust,” he said.

The former government adviser on the National Task Force on COVID-19 said public officials should be accountable to the people and should serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; they should act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.

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