Plunder raps urged in Pharmally scandal

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Richard Gordon maintained that plunder, not just anti-graft, charges be filed against individuals involved in the Pharmally scandal.

“The Filipino people deserve no less than the incarceration in prison of former president Rodrigo Duterte, Lloyd Christopher Lao, Michael Yang and the rest of their ilk, they have blood on their hands,” he said.

Gordon was the chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that investigated the Pharmally irregularities.

“l am glad that Mr. Lao, one of the architects of the plunder-plagued Pharmally scandal, has finally been arrested and will face justice soon before the Sandiganbayan. I suppose other perpetrators will soon be arrested as well,” Gordon said.

Gordon, however, lamented the bail set at P90,000 appears to be very small compared to the billions of pesos stolen from the Filipino people, when Lao and his cohorts Michael Yang, Mohit and Twinkle Dargani, Lin Weix- iong and Linconn Ong, among others, allegedly conspired to plunder more than P11 billion. –  Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edith Regalado