Senators threatened to send Pharmally Director Lincoln Ong to the National Bilibid Prison for his “refusal to cooperate and answer legitimate questions” as the Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Sen. Richard J. Gordon, continued to pursue the paper trail of multibillion transactions involving the controversial supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Department of Health (DOH).
Also at its ninth hearing, the Blue Ribbon noted the apparent “tampering” of official documents submitted to it, after Sen. Kiko Pangilinan flagged the disappearance of at least 19 inspections reports, covering some P4.4 billion in Pharmally transactions, from the Google Drive earlier submitted to the Senate.
“They were uploaded in the morning…we downloaded some of them…but somebody from your office took it down,” said Pangilinan as he confronted Director Jolas Brutas of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM). Brutas was standing in for PS-DBM Executive Director Jasonmer Uayan.
Gordon demanded to know “who has control” of the electronic documents, and has the capability of taking them down.
After half an hour, Gordon’s staff noticed that an unidentified party had reuploaded some documents at past 4 p.m. to the Google Drive, prompting senators to remark that “someone tried to clean up the mess,” and had restored the missing documents because the senators raised a howl.
Earlier, Sen. Panfilo Lacson demanded that Ong reveal full details of the extent of financial assistance it got and from President Duterte’s former economic adviser Michael Yang that allowed it to cover for multibillion-peso transactions with the PS-DBM to which the DOH had outsourced the task of conducting biddings for urgently needed PPE items early on in the pandemic.
Lacson noted that of 45 suppliers, Pharmally is “number 1 and you bagged 26.39 percent of the P42 billion transferred by DOH to PS-DBM, with a P625,000 initial capitalization.”
That is why, he said, Pharmally should be compelled to produce the documents sought by Senate probers.
“What is your connection with PS-DBM to be able to bag all those contracts?”Lacson demanded to know of Ong, noting that the contracts were negotiated contracts.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon moved to transfer Ong—seconded by Sen. Francis Pangilinan—after Drilon got exasperated with Ong’s evasive answers, when he repeatedly declined to say how much funds were really lent by Yang to Pharmally to allow the controversial start-up to cover for its committed supply deliveries to PS-DBM.
Ong kept saying Pharmally has a “nondisclosure agreement” with Yang, which prevented him from revealing the actual amounts lent by Yang.
Drilon later asked Ong if he would cooperate if the Blue Ribbon were to call for an executive session so he can “speak freely.” The Minority Leader even suggested senators could consider enrolling Ong in the Witness Protection Program, if they assess his testimony is crucial enough.
As Ong asked for five minutes to consult with his lawyer, senators resumed grilling of Micahel Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser.
Gordon’s questions focused on the origins of Yang’s wealth, which Yang repeatedly refused to divulge.
Addressing Yang’s refusal to answer, Gordon said the Philippines was obligated to pursue the money trail because it had to show the international community “we are serious about money laundering.”
In the same hearing, a video presented by Sen. Risa Hontiveros showed a man wearing a cap and dark glasses, voice disguised, testifying that a Pharmally official instructed them to change the expiry dates on near-expiry face shields; and to include in the packs for delivery even old, bent shields, with yellowing foam (yellowed from long stocking period in warehouse). Those face shields are for doctors and nurses.