Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Saturday, Sept. 8 urged the officials of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation to face the Senate Blue Ribbon committee and testify about the over P10 billion supply contracts they got from the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) previously headed by resigned Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao.
“I’m wondering why up to now the officials of Pharmally have not appeared before the Senate. We subpoenaed them but we could not find them in the addresses indicated in their submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),” Drilon said in an interview with ONE News’ The Chiefs.
“They know that the hearings are going on. Why have they not volunteered and come up and said, ‘I’m here and I’m willing to explain all of this.’ Why? That’ s why questions are being raised, because of this incident that’s not consistent with our ordinary human experience,” he pointed out.
Drilon said that if everything is aboveboard, Pharmally officials should have already volunteered to appear in the Blue Ribbon committee hearing to clear their names.
The Senate fiscalizer contrasted Pharmally’s apparent silence to what Rebmann Incorporated did. Rebmann is the company that supplied PPEs during the Aquino administration
After Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque questioned the purchases of the Aquino administration of PPEs from Rebmann, the firm’s officials immediately surfaced and defended the purchases as being aboveboard.
“Again, the willingness of Rebmann to explain is an indication that the contract is above board as against the situation with Pharmally where up to now I have not seen a single soul,” Drilon said.
‘’The Blue Ribbon (committee) tried to subpoena Huan Tzu Yen, the chief executive officer of Pharmally; Twinkle Dargani, president; and Mohit Dargani, treasurer, but the stated addresses in the corporation’s General Information Sheet appeared to be fictitious, Drilon noted.
“Kung wala kang itinatago, bakit ka magtatago? Where are the officials of Pharmally?” Drilon said in a separate statement.
Drilon said the almost P8 billion that Pharmally bagged from the PS-DBM in 2020 could be “just the tip of the iceberg” because in 2021, it was found out that the controversial trading firm also got a whopping P2.3 billion contract supplies from PS-DBM.
Of the P2.3 billion, P800 million was awarded in June 2021 when Undersecretary Lao was reported to have resigned and P1 billion in July after he resigned.
Drilon reiterated that Pharmally was able to bag the contracts despite the clear procurement requirements that negotiated procurement could only be entered into with persons who have the technical, legal and financial capabilities.
“If Pharmally’s paid up capital is only P625,000, where did it get the money to buy over P10 billion worth of medical supplies?” he asked.
From zero declared income in 2019, Pharmally recorded a gross income of P384.04 million and a net income of P264.65 million in 2020.