COA, Ombudsman urged: Probe PS-DBM deals with Pharmally
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon urged the Commission on Audit on Saturday to conduct a special audit and the Ombudsman to conduct its own investigation into the controversial multibillion-peso deals between the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management and Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
The Senate Blue Ribbon panel's ongoing probe on government spending flagged by the COA has so far focused on the DBM's procurement service and Pharmally, which it awarded the largest pandemic contracts despite having a paid-up capital of just P625,000 — an amount Drilon said was "obviously insufficient to assume the huge risk for the delivery of billions worth of procurement."
In a radio interview late Saturday night, Drilon maintained that there is reason to believe that there was overpricing of facemasks and other medical supplies, adding that a special audit is necessary as the COA’s regular annual audit may not be sufficient to establish overpricing.
Drilon said both the Ombudsman and COA can subpoena documents and witnesses.
"Because of the many that come out of the Blue Ribbon investigation, I am asking for it and maybe it's time to have a special audit so that they can see and confirm what comes out of the senate's investigation," Drilon said in mixed Filipino and English.
"They have the power to view and examine the documents individually," he added.
In a separate statement, Drilon said the Ombudsman can form a fact-finding team to probe the purchase of overpriced medical supplies from Pharmally by PS-DBM.
The Office of the Ombudsman has said it will wait for agencies to submit documents to COA to address deficiencies that state auditors had flagged in the government's pandemic spending.
In 2020 alone, Pharmally bagged P8.68 billion worth of contracts, after which its income soared to over P300 million in 2020 from zero declared income in 2019. The following year, it also bagged another P2 billion deal with PS-DBM.
Earlier Saturday, Sen. Leila de Lima also pressed for the freezing of assets of former presidential adviser on economic affairs Michael Yang, former undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao and officials of Pharmally.
The opposition senator also pointed to the luxury cars allegedly purchased by Pharmally executives that year when it cornered billions of contracts from PS-DBM.
“There is an urgent need to freeze the assets of all these soulless monsters before they all fly away to the Caribbean with their plundered loot. The AMLC should immediately apply for a freeze order and initiate civil forfeiture proceedings against these shameless profiteers,” De Lima said, referring to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
“That Lamborghini, that Porsche, that Lexus, are the people’s money. That is our money. And these greedy monsters have no conscience whatsoever, using our money to feed their boundless sociopathic need for material wealth at the expense of dying Filipinos in the midst of the COVID-19 catastrophe. They deserve to burn in hell,” De Lima added.
— with reports from Bella Perez-Rubio and The STAR
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