Ombudsman Jesus Crispin C. Remulla ordered the pullout from the Sandiganbayan of the six or eight cases filed against government officials and executives of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation in the purchase of more than P4.1 billion RT-PCR kits for the government’s Covid-19 response in 2020.

In a press briefing on Monday, Oct. 13, Remulla said there are “some details lacking” in the cases filed before the anti-graft court and, thus, a review is necessary before refiling.

He said during a press briefing: “I want to know the details put in the cases. It’s very important for the Sandiganbayan to have a good grasp of the cases immediately.”

Those charged before the anti-graft court in the Pharmally were former Procurement Service (PS)-Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, former overall deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex H. Liong, Director IV Christine Maria Lecaros Suntay, Procurement Management Officer V Webster Marmol Laurenana, Procurement Management Officer Paul Jasper Villanueva De Guzman, Procurement Management Officer VI Augusto Menchavez Ylagan, and Division Chief of Procurement Division VI Jasonmer Lagarto Uayan.

Pharmally's President and Director Twinkle Dargani, Treasurer and Secretary Mohit Dargani, Director Linconn Uy Ong, Director Justine Garado, Board Member Huang Tzu Yen, employee Krizzle Grace Ukkong Mago, and Financial Manager Lin Weixiong were also included in the charges.

When asked if he intends to include former president Rodrigo Duterte as an accused in the Pharmally cases, Remulla refused to answer and simply said that it will depend on what their review will show.

He said he intends to consult with former senator Richard Gordon regarding the Pharmally cases so that “malinawan lahat bakit hindi nakasama (to shed light on why others were not included)” in the charges.

To recall, there are three graft charges filed before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division involving three transactions in the Pharmally case.

The first was for the purchase of 41,400 units of BGI Real Time Fluorescent RT-PCR Kits worth P2,877,300,000 on June 8, 2020.

The second was for 8,000 units of PCR Kit, BGI Real Time Fluorescent RT-PCR Kit worth P600,000,000 on April 22, 2020.

The third was for 2,000 units of A*Star Foundation Kit 2.0 worth P688,000,000 on April 22, 2020.

In filing the charges, the OMB at the time of the now retired Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires, questioned the financial capability of Pharmally to acquire test kits from foreign manufacturers or suppliers when it was awarded the P4.165 billion contract, especially since its paid-up capital is only P625,000.

It was also found "highly questionable" that Pharmally proposed prices for the 8,000 BGI Real Time Fluorescent RT-PCR Kits and the 2,000 units of A*Star Fortitude RT-PCR Test Kits on April 21, 2020 when the DOH requested for 7,000 BGI test kits and 1,900 A*Star test kits on April 22, 2020.

Moreover, the delivery of the 2,000 A*Star test kits should have started on May 1, 2020, but was rescheduled and further delayed by Pharmally to June 8, 2020 due to an incoming typhoon. Despite these delays, PS-DBM still awarded the company for the purchase and delivery of 41,400 BGI test kits on June 8, 2020.

At the same time during the press briefing, Remulla said he noticed “something wrong” about the structure of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB).

“Everybody was segregated and not working as a team. They were not connected to each other,” he said.

Since “everybody was in the dark” before, Remulla said the preliminary investigating team and the prosecutors are not “in sync.”

With him taking charge, Remulla said that he wants the flow of the charges to go more smoothly before the anti-graft court.