Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday downplayed the filing of a sedition and perjury case against her by an employee of the beleaguered Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. who now allegedly admits to being bribed and ordered to lie by the lawmaker.
Hontiveros is referring to the complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by a certain Jaime Vegas who claimed that she bribed Veejay Almira who appeared in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearing last September 24 to testify that they repacked substandard face shields supposedly upon the orders of the Pharmally’s management, particularly by Krizle Grace Mago, the company’s regulatory chief.
Mago had affirmed Almira’s testimony and also admitted to tampering the manufacturing dates of the face shields that they sold to the government. However, she later recanted saying she was under pressure when she made the statement, denying they sold damaged COVID-19 pandemic supplies to the state.
“The charge to commit sedition is laughable. Holding public officials accountable is not rising publicly and tumultuously against the government,” Hontiveros said in an online press conference.
“I do not need to resort to unlawful means to point out anomalies in Pharmally's transactions. The Senate has already exposed many of these information. This is clearly a last ditch effort by Pharmally and its backers,” the senator added.
In the complaint, Vegas claimed he is a co-worker of Almira in Pharmally, and narrated that Hontiveros and her chief legislative officer, Atty. Jaye Bekema, persuaded Almira to testify against Pharmally in exchange for cash.
According to the complainant, the senator’s objective was to bring down the government by portraying it is corrupt and to solicit support from the general public to turn against the Duterte administration.
Hontiveros said she laments this latest development but stressed that her office is ready to face the accusations hurled against them by the camp of Pharmally saying they have sufficient evidence to prove Almira’s testimony against Pharmally was legitimate and neither did they coerce him to testify against the government.
“Nakakalungkot ang development na ito. Nais ko lamang ipaalala sa lahat na may resibo kami, at yun ang nagpapatibay ng aming imbestigasyon. Wala kaming itinatago at handa kaming harapin ang mga akusasyon (This latest development is lamentable. I just want to remind them that everything has a receipt, and that evidence will strengthen this investigation. We have nothing to hide and we are ready to face the accusations),” the lawmaker said.
Hontiveros said it is high-time Pharmally executives fully participate in the Senate blue committee hearing chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon and to submit the documents asked of them by the senators.
“Huwag nating ilihis ang usapan mula sa bilyon-bilyong nakupit ng Pharmally sa gitna ng pandemya (Let’s not deviate from the fact that Pharmally stole billions worth of funds in the middle of a pandemic),” the senator said.
“Pharmally and its backers are resorting to these old tricks in an attempt to avoid explaining to the public how they used our COVID funds. Face shield nila, expired. Pati script nila, expired (Their face shields are expired; even their script is also expired),” she stressed.