Senator Richard Gordon lamented Friday, September 10, the apology made by President Duterte for the deaths of four Chinese nationals in recent anti-drug operations.

In opening the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's fifth hearing on the alleged irregularities in the government's procurement of pandemic supplies, Gordon took a swipe at Duterte for apologizing to countries whose nationals have died in the drug war as he noted of the Chief Executives defense of individuals involved in the mess.

"Nakakarinding pakinggan kung pagka minsan namamatay ang -- namamatay sa drug shootings 'yong mga Filipino, na karamihan at mahihirap halos lahat, ay hindi ko naririnig na naga-apologize ang ating Pangulo. Ngunit sa mga Chinese authorities nag-apologize kamakailan na napatay 'yong apat na Chinese (It's irritating to hear that Filipinos were killed in the drug shootings, and many and almost all of them are poor, and the President has not apologized. But when four Chinese nationals died, he was quick to apologize to Chinese authorities)," the committee chairperson said.

Gordon also alluded to Duterte's defense of Chinese businessman Michael Yang, his former economic adviser, who was being linked to the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, which bagged over P8 billion in deals with the government despite the lack of track record and a paid-up capital of only P625,000.

He earlier accused Duterte of covering up the supposed anomalies in the DOH's use of COVID-19 funds.

"Mr. President, hindi niyo po dapat proteksyunan 'yang (you should not be protecting) Pharmally. You are Philippine president and you are elected by the country and you must protect the Filipino people," he told Duterte.

Meanwhile, Gordon denied Duterte's statement that he was a sinophobe, being of American descent.

"Hindi po ako xenophobic, ako po ay Filipino. At lahat po tayo at Filipino. 'Yon po ang hinaing naririnig ko sa mga tao...na ang pinoproteksyunan niyo ay ang Pharmally at mga kasama ninyo (I am not xenophobic, I am a Filipino. And we are all Filipinos. But that is what our people are lamenting, that you are protecting Pharmally and your colleagues)," he said.

Duterte has been lashing out at Gordon for his committee's probe on his administration's purchases of medical supplies for the COVID-19 pandemic, and in turn called for an audit of the Philippine Red Cross' transactions. The senator concurrently chairs the non-government organization.

In 2016, Gordon, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, led the series of the investigations on the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJK) in Duterte's "war on drugs" and later ruled that no evidence was enough to prove its existence.

Years later, he agreed that EJKs were being committed in the course of the anti-illegal drug campaign.