SEN. Richard Gordon on Tuesday said majority of the members of the Blue Ribbon committee have refused to sign a draft report on the panel’s investigation on the alleged misuse of government pandemic funds involving Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Since the panel report was not signed by majority of the members, it cannot be brought to the plenary for deliberations.
In a privilege speech, Gordon took a swipe at his colleagues and said the Senate should be an independent body and reject any outside influence, especially from the Executive department. He said it is important to put into public record the committee report which remains two signatures short of the minimum 11.
“We cannot shirk from our responsibilities by not signing, our duty to act on a committee report, either in agreement or disagreement. People of this country should not be denied a judgment or the very least, a debate on whether there was malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance,” Gordon said.
Majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, ex officio member of the panel, yesterday said he did not sign the report because there is no strong evidence that President Duterte committed plunder. He clarified though that he is in favor of filing charges against former government officials and Pharmally executives.
“Our only request is that they exclude the President from the plunder case and I will sign… I even pity (Health) Secretary (Francisco) Duque because he was still recommended to be charged even if he already gave the funds to the DBM (Department of Budget and Management),” Zubiri said in Filipino.
Gordon, in the privilege speech, said the public has the right to know how the senators voted on the Pharmally issue and other investigations conducted by the Senate.
“We require our fellow senators’ vote, so we can bring Pharmally to the plenary. If you are voting for or against our report, let us make it clear in the record… The Senate’s full disclosure on the Pharmally plunder controversy achieves closure for our people,” he said.
Ending his speech, Gordon said there have been many attempts by President Duterte to discredit the investigations, saying the Executive “desperately sough to prevent” the truth from coming out.
The Blue Ribbon committee has forwarded to the committee members the draft report, and has been following it up for their signatures, the latest of which was last May 20.
Aside from Gordon, the Blue Ribbon committee has 19 more members, but only nine have signed the report. Those who signed were Gordon, Franklin Drilon, Panfilo Lacson, Emmanuel Pacquiao, Leila de Lima, Aquilino Pimentel III, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, and Ralph Recto.
The other committee members are Imee Marcos, Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Manuel Lapid, Pia Cayetano, Christopher Go, Ramon Revilla Jr., Francis Tolentino, and Zubiri.
Under the rules, a committee report can be brought for plenary discussions if it signed by majority of the members, in this case, at least 11 senators.
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee started its probe on the issue based on a report of the Commission on Audit on the transfer of pandemic funds of the Department of Health to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
The investigation shifted to Pharmally after it was learned that the company was given some P10 billion worth of contracts to purchase pandemic supplies for the government even if it had only P625,000 start-up capital.
As a result, the panel recommended the filing of charges against PS-DBM ad DOH officials, Pharmally executives, and President Duterte, who was accused of complicity in the crime of plunder.
The committee started with the investigation on August 18 last year and ended January 27 this year. It conducted a total of 18 hearings.
Drilon earlier said the investigation on the Pharmally controversy was not a waste of time even if it has not reached the plenary. He said the next Congress can still use testimonies and other pieces of evidence should the new set of senators decide to pursue the investigation.
“It is not certainly a waste of time even if no committee report can be supported by the majority. We exposed the anomalies which I am sure has put people on notice that this should not be repeated… So even if no committee report is filed, that is already the effect of that investigation. So, it is not a waste of time,” Drilon said.
He said a member of the next 19th Congress can revive the Pharmally investigation by filing a resolution calling for a probe.
“Call some more witnesses if they want to or submit a report on the basis of what is on record which includes the record of the 18th Congress and submit a report to the 19th Congress…Not everything will go to waste because they can utilize the evidence gathered,” he added.
