Forner House speaker and Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez said Saturday, September 25, that the business practice of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation in allegedly misrepresenting the quality of its COVID-19 medical supplies is similar to "syndicated swindling".
Alvarez made this observation after learning from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearing Friday, September 24, that Pharmally "unscrupulously changed the packages of face shields, thus misrepresenting the quality.’’
A Senate witness presented by Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed that certification of products dated “2020” were replaced with “2021” to make it appear that the items are new.
Pharmally employee Krizle Mago admitted that the practice may be tantamount to swindling the government.
To make matters worse, handling of the face shields were unsanitary. Many were dirty, dented, and repackaged by personnel who did not use gloves and could have easily contaminated items that were supposed to provide Filipinos with protection against COVID-19.
Alvarez said these practices, "is equivalent to swindling the government and the Filipino people."
This could not have been successfully accomplished by Pharmally had it not been acting in coordination with certain people within the government, he said.
‘’This is typical of how syndicates operate to favor the few at the expense of the welfare of the many. What is tragic about the situation is that government, entrusted to protect the people, is taking part in the criminal enterprise either through neglect or active participation,’’ Alvarez stressed.
"This is unacceptable and should stop," he added.
Alvarez, a former ally of the Duterte administration, has revived the Partido Reporma, which is now chaired by Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
He maintained that what Pharmally and its co-conspirators did was wrong and that "it has caused, and continue to cause, irreparable injury to the public."
"Efforts should be undertaken to disrupt and dismantle the syndicates within government that serve the interests of the greedy few at the cost of the health, lives, and treasury of the Filipino people", he said.