‘The senators should not be cowed by threats, insults and innuendos from the Palace and just do their job as mandated by the Constitution.’
PRESIDENT Duterte is wrong when he said that nothing comes out in Senate investigations, particular the ones being done by the Blue Ribbon committee.
As chairman Sen. Richard Gordon soldiers on along with other members of the committee, the truth about the controversial overpriced purchases of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and Department of Health is finally being revealed, even if one small piece after another.
Last year, a small, newly-established trading company called Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. with a paid-up capital of only P625,000 won P8.7 billion worth of contracts with the
PS-DBM headed then by now resigned Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao.
On the surface, this smacks of favoritism on the part of the DBM, as importers/suppliers should have at least three years of experience in this business to qualify for such huge contracts. It turns out that Pharmally officials were introduced to President Duterte by his friend and economic adviser, Michael Yang. Yang told the senators that his only role in this is to introduce one of Pharmally’s Filipino directors, Linconn Ong, to the President.
When queried from his home in Singapore, Pharmally’s chairman and president Huang Tzu Yen admitted that Yang offered to lend money to his company after they won billions of pesos worth of government contracts. They will pay him back once they receive the money from the government. Ong added that Yang had advanced the payment to the Chinese suppliers and guaranteed that their firm would be able to pay.
The last hearing on Friday established that the role of the President’s friend and adviser was not just to introduce Ong to the suppliers, but also to pay the initial bill and guarantee that succeeding deliveries of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing kits will be paid.
Because of their inconsistent statements and lies made under oath, the senators were furious at both Yang and Ong, declared them in contempt and ordered their arrest. Ong, who is sick of COVID-19, was ordered detained at his home.
There have been many twists and turns in the senators’ investigation of this reprehensible transaction, which started when Health Secretary Francisco Duque downloaded P42 billion to the PS-DBM to buy their supplies in the fight against the pandemic.
The public is interested in the conduct and outcome of this investigation — which the President wanted scrapped — because it is their money that is being spent and at a time when most everybody is feeling the pinch of the pandemic.
The senators should not be cowed by threats, insults and innuendos from the Palace and just do their job as mandated by the Constitution.
