SENATOR RISA Hontiveros revealed that Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation executive Mohit Dargani has worked as a Special Assistant to former Presidential Economic Adviser Michael Yang, a Davao City-based Chinese businessman.
During
a recent Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, Hontiveros showed a LinkedIn
profile of Dargani, in which he labels himself as “Special Assistant at the
Office of the Presidential Economic Adviser.”
“Bakit lahat ng mga may-ari ng Pharmally may
koneksyon kay Michael Yang? Si Linconn Ong nakatrabaho na niya bilang
translator di umano sa meeting ng Pharmally kasama si President Duterte noong
2017. At ngayon, napag-alaman natin pati si Dargani nakatrabaho rin niya. The
Pharmally-Michael Yang relationship seems to run deep,” Hontiveros said.
In
the last hearing, the Senate revealed the luxury cars owned by Pharmally
executives and in line with this, Hontiveros said she supports Senator Leila de
Lima’s call for the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze and investigate the
assets of Pharmally executives.
“Nakakasuklam
na lantaran ang mga Lamborghini at Porsche nila habang nalulugmok sa kahirapan
ang ating mga kababayan,” Hontiveros said.
Pharmally
executives Huang Tzu Yen and Linconn Ong had said in an earlier hearing that Yang
helped finance or guarantee the purchase of supplies and equipment from their
suppliers in China.
But Yang denied financing the controversial firm
and claimed during the hearing that it was the money of his friends that
financed Pharmally.
“This
must have been a big risk on Yang's part and on the part of his mysterious friends,
reputational, financial, or otherwise. Why was he so sure that the Pharmally
crew would be able to pay their suppliers in China? Bakit ang lakas ng loob?”
Hontiveros asked.
“Ang
nakakabahala sa lahat ng ito ay parang ipinaubaya ng PS-DBM ang ating Covid-19
response sa friends of friends of friends ng mga dayuhang tulad ni Michael
Yang. Bakit malapit na kaibigan ang turing ng PS-DBM sa kanila habang parang
mortal na kaaway ang turing nila sa aming mga Senador? We should be on team
Philippines, not team Michael Yang,” she added.
President Rodrigo
Duterte insisted the government’s contract with Pharmally for the purchase of
medical equipment was above board and there were no overpricing and ghost
deliveries.
“There was no
overpricing which some senators are so desperately trying to establish. Ayun.
Everything was delivered. There were no ghost deliveries as some senators are
also implying. Wala naman talaga kayong makuha. Even if we continue to hear
this case until kingdom come, I do not think that you will get anything there,
except that you want to dance before the bar of public opinion so that you will
be noticed and maybe try to impress the voters in this coming election that you
are an intellectual,” he said.
Duterte also
cited the testimony of Commission on Audit Chairman Michael Aguinaldo during a
separate inquiry by the House of Representatives, which refuted the overpricing
allegations of some senators.
The President has
previously said that the government’s purchase of face masks and face shields,
which legislators have questioned for allegedly being expensive, was free of
corruption.
He also asserted
that his Cabinet members are “all clean” in response to charges of corruption
leveled by the Senate, which is investigating contracts entered into by the
government.
“I would be lying
if I say there is no corruption. In some other offices now, agencies,
departments, there are. But I’m making you this guarantee, ‘yong Cabinet
members ko wala ‘yan. Puro malinis ‘yan,” he said.
Senators have
been investigating the alleged overpricing in the administration’s purchase of
medical supplies at the height of the pandemic last year.
“Kayong mga lahat
sa Senate — do not investigate programs which are on-going. You will derail it, you will delay it by your
incessant penchant for investigating government offices. Gusto ninyo lahat
pakialaman na lang,” Duterte said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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