Senator Richard Gordon on Tuesday, May 31 reported out the draft committee report on the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation on the controversy surrounding the transaction between the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) Procurement Services and the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. regarding the alleged overpriced purchase of Covid-19 supplies during the height of the pandemic.
Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon panel, disclosed during his privilege speech that only nine senators were able to sign the draft committee report.
Aside from him, members of the committee who signed were Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon (ex-officio), Senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Manny Pacquiao, Leila de Lima, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, and Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto (ex-officio).
Some senators have been hesitant to sign the committee report which cites President Duterte for “betrayal of public trust.”
The report also recommended the filing of charges against several Pharmally officials, former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang and former DBM-PS procurement head Christopher Lloyd Lao.
At least 11 signatures are needed before a draft committee report can be reported out in the Senate plenary and debated upon.
But due to the lack of signatures, Gordon moved that the draft report of the Blue Ribbon panel on the Pharmally issue be “inserted inot the Senate’s records,” citing it is paramount to fulfill the duty to the Filipino people to be shed light on the truth on the P8.6-billion worth of contracts awarded by the DBM-PS to Pharmally and to “maintain the integrity, dignity and independence of the Senate.”
“For this particular investigation on Pharmally, we owe it to our constituents - the people of this Republic- whether or not we are in favor of the draft Partial Committee Report. Our mandates command us no less,” Gordon said in his privilege speech.
“But our investigation further led us to a clear, disconcerting, and evidence-based findings of fraud, waste, and abuse pursuant to the Report of the Commission on Audit. When we went further down that rabbit hole, the Executive viciously attacked COA and the Senate,” Gordon lamented.
Gordon, who failed to win a reelection in the last May 9 polls, said the undue interference on the Senate’s probe on the issue, particularly by the President, “cannot be allowed to continue, especially in the future” reminding colleagues that “the authority, powers, and prerogatives of the Senate are constitutionally granted.”
“The Blue Ribbon Committee is invested with power and duty to investigate cases of malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance committed by public officers. This has been the very basis of our authority for calling the motu proprio investigations on Pharmally. It is our sacred duty to defend the Senate,” Gordon reiterated.
“Those things said, I urge you - all of you - to continue to ensure that the Senate remains independent; to remain resistant and free from undue constraints imposed by the Executive, and to remain the bastion of the rule of law,” the outgoing senator further said.