Senator Risa Hontiveros believes President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest remark against Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation is a “shift towards damage control.”
In an ANC interview on Thursday, Hontiveros said Duterte may already be “feeling the heat” as his “cooks” — namely the Department of Health, the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service, and his former economic adviser Michael Yang — are not getting off the hook.
“So I think the President is shifting towards a damage control stance towards this unprecedentedly damaging Pharmally case, damaging to his administration and maybe even in his political capital,” Hontiveros said.
“Alam naman natin halos lahat, kung hindi man lahat tungkol kay presidente ay political talaga [We all know that almost everything, if not everything, about the President is political],” she added.
Nonetheless, Hontiveros welcomed Duterte’s latest statement but asked him to stop defending officials who “benefitted” from the government deals with Pharmally.
“May he take a further step forward to stop defending his officials and his cronies, na sa malamang sa hindi ay nakinabang din sa dubious transactions ng Pharmally. I mean, hindi maglalakas loob ang mga Pharmally officials kung wala silang kasabwat sa kusina,” she said.
(May he take a further step forward to stop defending his officials and his cronies, who probably benefited from the dubious transaction with Pharmally. I mean, Pharmally officials won’t have the guts to enter transactions if they have no cohorts in the government.)
In his latest public address aired Tuesday night, Dutere said he “does not care” about Pharmally officials, saying those who have not paid their taxes should be jailed or worse.
He said he was only concerned with his Cabinet men, whom he said had more “critical tasks to do” in the pandemic than wait around during the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee.
Senators previously learned that former Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao, Yang, Pharmally officials, and other suppliers of the Department of Budget Management – Procurement Service (PS-DBM) had no income tax records with the Bureau of Internal Revenue or had under-declared their taxable incomes in the past year.
Duterte had been criticizing senators as the Senate blue ribbon committee — led by Senator Richard Gordon — continues to investigate the transfer of P42 billion COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the PS-DBM and the awarding of allegedly questionable supply contracts to companies, including Pharmally. —KBK, GMA News
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