Senate blue ribbon preliminary report on Pharmally fiasco out by Monday —Gordon

The Senate blue ribbon committee will release on Monday its preliminary report on its investigation into the alleged anomalous purchases of COVID-19 supplies, its chairman, Senator Richard Gordon said Thursday.

“Maglalabas na kami ng preliminary report sa Lunes. Bato-bato sa langit ang matamaan ‘wag magagalit at umaasa ako na ang mga senador ay pipirma,” Gordon said during the 18th hearing into the alleged questionable transactions entered into by the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (PS-DBM) in 2020.

(We will release a preliminary report on Monday. I hope those who will be named won't get mad and I am hoping that the senators will sign the report.)

He said the complete report is expected after the arrest of the five personalities linked to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, who skipped the Senate hearings.

“Ilalabas namin ang report pagkatapos naming makuha itong tatlo, apat o limang mga taong ito,” he said.

(We will release the report after we arrest these three, four or five people.)

Gordon said he expects more information after the arrest of Rose Nono-Lin, Lin Wei Xiong, Jayson Uson, Dennis Manalastas, and Sophia Custodio.

“Hindi ko po isasarado ang hearing na ito…Hindi pa po tapos sapagkat nand’yan pa ang hinahanap namin na si Nono-Lin, si Lin Wei Xiong, si Gerald Cruz, lalaki pa ito,” he said.

(I won’t terminate the investigation yet because we still have persons like Nono Lin, Lin Wei Xiong, Gerald Cruz. I believe more information will be revealed.)

“Huling-huli ang kabuktutan, ang katiwalian…Kaya nakita niyo, all these things make cowards of us all, all these things make thieves of us all,” Gordon said.

(We caught the anomalies. All these things make cowards of us all, all these things make thieves of us all.)

In October 2021, Gordon said the committee already has preliminary findings in its probe.

These include possible charges against former PS-DBM officer-in-charge Christopher Lloyd Lao, Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation officials, and former economic adviser Michael Yang, among others.

The Senate blue ribbon committee investigates the transfer of P42 billion COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the PS-DBM.

This includes PS-DBM’s purchase of P8.6 billion worth of face masks, face shields, and PPEs from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, a firm that only had a P625,000 paid-up capital when it entered transactions with the government.—AOL, GMA News