The spokesman of Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday, October 3, said it’s important that both upper and lower chambers ensure their integrity and the protection of the Constitution as they continue investigating the anomalous contracts entered into by the government with Pharmally, a small company that allegedly “swindled” the government.
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez, a lawyer, chimed in into the latest development in the Senate’s and House of Representatives’ investigation of the overpriced medical supplies purchased by the government from Pharmally through the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (DBM-PS).
Both Houses must now agree to share Pharmally’s corporate representative Krizle Mago who entered the House’s protective custody after revealing during a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing that Pharmally tampered with the manufacturing dates of the face shields delivered to the Philippine government for the use of medical frontliners.
“Sa dulo, ang dapat nating bantayan dito ‘yung integridad ng mga institusyon at iyong pagsunod at paggalang sa patakaran natin sa Konstitusyon (In the end, another thing that we should guard here is the integrity of the institutions and the respect to the Constitution),” Gutierrez said over dzXL.
The vice president was absent during her weekly radio show, “BISErbisyong Leni.”
The spokesperson said that ensuring the integrity of both chambers of Congress is separate from the goal of the investigation, which is to discover the truth about the anomalous multi-billion contracts.
READ: Krizle Mago surfaces, is now under 'protective custody' of Lower House
Gutierrez quoted Robredo who earlier lamented the fact that there were people who took advantage of the pandemic for their own gain.
“Ano ba naman, nasa gitna ng pandemya. Ang dami daming nagkakasakit, ang dami daming namamatay, tapos magnanakaw kayo? Anong klase talagang tao ang makakagawa nun (We are in the middle of the pandemic. A lot of people are getting sick, a lot of people are dying, but you will steal? What kind of people does that)?” he asked.
He noted the irony of seeing President Duterte defending some personalities behind Pharmally. One of these personalities is Michael Yang, who once served as the President’s economic adviser.
Yang is being linked to Pharmally as he supposedly financed the company.
“Mukha ngang nagkaroon ng malaking korapsyon sa gitna ng pandemya. Hindi ba dapat lahat tayo ay sumuporta na lumabas talaga iyong buong katotohanan (It looked like there was massive corruption in the middle of the pandemic. Shouldn’t we all support efforts for the truth to come out)?,” Gutierrez said.
Having once served as Akbayan representative to Congress, he also gave his two cents about sharing Mago as a witness.
He explained that the Senate blue ribbon committee, headed by Senator Richard Gordon, can invite Mago to attend the Senate’s hearing on Pharmally.
READ: Mago will testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon panel, Lower House assures
The senator already said that it might still need to invite Mago, who entered the House’s protective custody on Friday, Oct. 1, after a week of being incommunicado to the Senate.
Gordon wondered why Mago would seek protection from the House when during the same hearing where she admitted to tampering with the manufacturing dates of the face shields, the senators already offered her protective custody. She said then that she’ll have to think about it first.
Shortly thereafter, the Senate was unable to reach Mago. She resurfaced at the House a week after.