Hontiveros: Pharmally exec Mago believed safe, in contact with other groups

Senator Risa Hontiveros said Monday Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. official Krizle Grace Mago is believed to be safe and communicating with other groups although she has yet to reach out to the Senate and the Blue Ribbon committee.

"She is yet to reach out to us and we have been reaching out to her. We know that she is in communication with certain groups and individuals, and that she is safe at this point. We are concerned for her safety and we want to make sure she is safe so she can attend Thursday's hearing and cooperate with the investigation," Hontiveros said in an ANC interview.

She said it would be better for Mago to cooperate with the Senate so that the chamber can protect her from possible retaliation.

Mago was absent during the hearing of the House of Representatives on Commission on Audit’s report on the COVID-19 funds of the Department of Health on Monday.

Senator Richard Gordon, Blue Ribbon committee chairman, said Mago should attend the next Senate probe on the P8 billion government purchases from Pharmally. He said her absence will indicate that she is in cohorts with Pharmally people whom she earlier said were swindling the government.

He issued the reminder as the Senate has not been able to contact Mago since she admitted that Pharmally was swindling the government by deliberately changing the expiry dates of face shield for health workers from 2020 to 2021.

"She's totally disregarding her phone calls. We hope she's not hurt or being intimidated. Sana nakikinig siya ngayon (We hope she is listening). Flight is an indication of guilt," Gordon said in a CNN Philippines interview.

The next Senate Blue Ribbon panel probe on the government's procurement of COVID-19 pandemic supplies from Pharmally is scheduled on Thursday, September 30.

"[If she fails to attend], she becomes a fugitive in my book. I advise her to come out as soon as possible," Gordon, a lawyer, pointed out.

Hontiveros also asked for the cooperation of Pharmally director Linconn Ong, who already admitted that it was former presidential adviser for economic affairs Michael Yang who loaned Pharmally the money it needed to deliver billions worth of medical supplies to the government amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Linconn Ong should cooperate before my colleagues run out of patience," she said in an ANC interview.

In a separate interview with Super Radyo dzBB, Hontiveros said, ”Ong's fate is in his hands.”

Ong was initially detained in the Senate but the senators are already mulling on transferring him to Pasay City jail for being evasive in answering queries during the probe.

He has refused to disclose to the Senate how much money Yang lent Pharmally, and has since requested an executive session or a closed-door meeting with senators.

The request has yet to be decided by the Senate.—AOL, GMA News