A CRIMINAL complaint has been filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against former top officials of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and executives of private contractor/supplier Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. involving alleged irregularities in the P8-billion procurement of supplies for the Department of Health.
In the complaint filed on February 24, Ferdinand Joshua Salazar, a member of the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan and resident of San Mateo in Rizal, sought criminal indictments against the PS-DBM and Pharmally officers for multiple counts of violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Named respondents in Salazar’s 16-page complaint affidavit were former DBM undersecretary Christopher Lloyd A. Lao, Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex H. Liong, and Pharmally executives Linconn Ong, Mohit Dargani, Twinkle Dargani, Krizle Grace Mago, Huang Tzu Yen, Michael Yang, Lin Weixong, and Rose Nono Lin.
The complainant said the Pharmally contracts were grossly anomalous because the company was able to corner the P8-billion supply deal even if it had a paid-up capital of only P625,000.
He accused all respondents of acting in concert to cause undue injury to the government while giving unwarranted benefits to Pharmally.
Salazar also sought administrative charges against and the dismissal from government service of Lao and Liong, cancellation of their eligibility, forfeiture of their benefits, and disqualification from holding public office in the future.
Pending investigation, he asked Ombudsman Samuel Martires to place Liong under preventive suspension and for Liong to voluntarily recuse himself from related proceedings.
“Public respondents Lao and Liong had also amended their own rules and processes to unlawfully favor Pharmally over other suppliers,” the complainant said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday said he has no regrets over the deals entered into by the government with Pharmally, noting he trusted the PS-DBM and “not personalities.”
“It’s an institutional trust more than a personal trust. I haven’t done anything wrong so there’s nothing to regret. Because of this (procurement), we were able to protect lives of our healthcare workers because they are a major pillar of the pandemic response,” he said in an interview with ANC.
“The fact that we have a manageable (number of) HCWs (healthcare workers) that got hit with COVID-19 is a testament that the protection these supplies have given were realized,” he added. — With Gerard Naval
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has recommended charges against Duque, former government officials, and Pharmally executives for supposedly plundering public funds meant for the pandemic response.
