MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has taken protective custody over Pharmally officer Krizle Mago following her disappearance from public view after she testified before the Senate that they tampered the expiry dates of face shields.
House good government and public accountability panel chair Rep. MIke Aglipay (DIWA party-list) announced Friday that Mago has been placed under the protective custody of the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms.
Mago had requested from House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco that she be placed under the chamber’s protective custody as she supposedly cannot speak freely.
“I cannot speak freely about the ongoing investigation on the alleged overprice of medical equipments without feeling threatened due to the undue influence and pressure being exerted from various sources,” she said in a letter dated September 30.
She added that she feels that her life and liberty are in “grave danger” and bemoaned that she is “being treated like a fugitive from justice.”
Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairperson Richard Gordon said that Mago has been unreachable since September 24, prompting concerns from senators over her safety.
It was Mago who corroborated a Senate witness' testimony that the firm tampered with the expiration dates of medical-grade face shields. The same witness, a Pharmally warehouseman, said he and other workers were told to repackage face shields even when they were dented, yellowed, and dirtied.
Asked by Sen. Richard Gordon, committee chair, if the firm was swindling the government by doing this, Mago replied: "Yes, I believe so."
She and Dargani soon after disagreed on who the order to repackage face shields came from.
Dargani claimed he never gave such an order but Mago, who said he did, countered that she would not have relayed the instruction to warehouse workers if there was no directive to do so from a higher-up. — Xave Gregorio with reports from Bella Perez-Rubio and News5/Marianne Enriquez