Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corporation executive Krizle Grace Mago will be presented by the House of Representatives to the Senate should the latter’s Committee on Blue Ribbon require her to participate in its hearings.
DIWA Partylist Rep. Michael Edgar Aglipay, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government, made this assurance as he informed Senator Richard J. Gordon, blue ribbon panel chairman, that Mago has been placed under the Lower House’s protective custody as of 6:30 pm on Friday, Oct. 1.
Mago, regulatory affairs chief of Pharmally, showed up at the office of sergeant-at-arms Gen. (ret) Mao Aplacsa on Friday after being guaranteed protective custody in the Lower House by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
“Should you require her participation in any of your hearings, please communicate with the Committee Secretariat and we will make the necessary arrangements for it,” said Aglipay in his letter to Gordon.
The House official swiftly informed Gordon of Mago’s condition in the Lower house “in adherence to inter-parliamentary courtesy.” Both the Lower House and Senate have issued subpoenas directing Mago to testify in their respective inquiries after the Pharmally executive failed to respond to invitations of the two congressional panels investigation allegations of overpricing of billions of pesos worth of face shields, face masks and COVID-19 supplies that was procured by the Procurement Service-Department of Budgt and Management and the Department of Health from her firm.
In her first and only appearance before the blue ribbon panel, Mago confessed that Pharmally had been shortchanging government by delivering ‘expired’ face shields. She admitted that expiration dates are tampered with prior to the deliveries.
However, after her appearance before the Senarte panel on Sept. 24, Mago no longer showed up until last night at the Lower HOuse.
“The Speaker of the House of Representaties, Honorable Lord Allan jay Q. Velasco, received a communication from Ms. Mago on September 30, 2021, seeking protective custody from the House of Representatives,” Aglipay wrote to Gordon.
“Finding merit to her request the Speaker directed the Committee to take custody of Ms. Mago and to ensure her safety and protection 24/7 within the premises of the House of Representatiges during the duration of the hearing on the moto propio inquiry,” he added.
The good government panel has launched a parallel investigation into the allegations of overpricing in COVID-19 supplies.
In appealing for protective custody, Mago wrote Velasco: “I feel that my life and liberty is in grave danger because of my coming out and my desire to speak the truth. Also now, I came across the information from the news that the police and NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) are tracking me down including my grandparent’s home in the province and took photos and videos without their consent.”