Lacson: No evidence yet linking Duterte, Bong Go to Pharmally

There are no pieces of evidence presented yet that could link President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Go to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Tuesday.

“There is no connection that has been established so far, ano. Michael Yang is as far as we go right now…but not the President, not the Palace, and not even Senator Bong Go,” Lacson said in an interview on ANC.

The senator said even Duterte’s decades-long friendship with Chinese businessman and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang will not suffice to implicate the President in the transactions made by the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (DBM-PS) with Pharmally.

“We can always speculate based on circumstances, based on pronouncements or statements made, but still at the end of the day, ang pinag-uusapan natin dito ay ano ang ebidensya and so far, talagang wala kaming hawak na ebidensya to link the President to Pharmally or even to Michael Yang, except na mayroong admission that they have been long friends even before he was a mayor," Lacson said.

"So for 20 years, but that is not enough to implicate the President or even think that the President had something to do with Pharmally supplying PS-DBM medical supplies,” he added.

Moreover, the senator disclosed that he and Senate President Vicente Sotto III talked to Pharmally director Linconn Ong, who is currently detained in the Senate, when the latter indicated that he wanted an executive session.

Lacson said Ong had divulged a “very vital information” related to the Michael Yang’s involvement in the funding of Pharmally.

“So when we were talking to him, he divulged very vital information which I’m not ready to share with you…And we were expecting at the time, because he was the one who requested that he would tell-all—not necessarily all because he stopped implicating some personalities—and that’s it, that’s how far as he was willing to go,” he said.

Asked if the vital information was related to the admission of Pharmally employee Krizle Mago, saying the firm had swindled the government, Lacson answered: “No, it’s about Michael Yang.”

The information was related to the funding of Pharmally, Lacson said.

The senator lamented that the “atmosphere has changed” after Ong consulted his legal counsel, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, who has called the Senate investigation a “kangaroo forum.”

“But then I think the atmosphere has changed, the environment has changed, he hired a lawyer, who’s very arrogant, calling the senators names and calling the  Senate names and I don’t think it will help his case,” he said.

Ong is currently detained in the Senate after the blue ribbon committee cited him in contempt for being "evasive" during the hearings.

Lacson said Ong may stay in the Senate even during the holidays if he will not cooperate with the investigation.

"[If] he continues to be evasive, if he continues not to cooperate, then I would guess he would be staying or extending Christmas and even New Year’s eve in the Senate premises, it’s all up to him," Lacson said.

But even without Ong’s full statement, Lacson believes that the Senate panel has sufficient evidence that could link Michael Yang to Pharmally’s transactions with the DBM-PS.

“Remember, there was already information shared by Linconn Ong as well as the other guy from Singapore [Pharmally president Huang Tzu Yen] that Michael Yang indeed loaned money to Pharmally to purchase the medicines (masks) from Tigerphil and even other suppliers,” Lacson said.

“So even without the corroborative statement of Linconn Ong, I think we have sufficient ground to conclude or even suspect that Michael Yang really has something to do with providing medical supplies, procurement by PS-DBM,” he added.

Although there is no evidence yet linking Duterte to the alleged anomalous transactions with Pharmally, Lacson still questioned the President’s statements consistently defending the individuals being investigated by the Senate.

“Bakit all in ang Presidente sa pagdedepensa (Why is the President all-in in defending them)?" Lacson asked, noting that the Talk To the People program always revolve around the same topics which are hitting the Senate and defending the personalities involved.

He also hit the members of the House of Representatives for the absence of “inter-parliamentary courtesy” when the congressmen questioned the on-going probe in the Senate.

"It’s quite obvious that the House [members] are allies ng Palace. It’s doing everything it can, not really to divert the issue, but they're even hitting the Senate’s investigation. Remember, Chairman Mike Aglipay announcing ang Senate ginigipit ang (the Senate is harassing the) witnesses?" he said.

"There’s no inter-parliamentary courtesy. It’s thrown out the window. If you can't make something out of that statement, it's obvious that the parallel investigation of House is to protect the interest of Malacanang,” Lacson said.

On Monday, the Palace said that ongoing Senate investigation on the government’s procurement of P8 billion worth of medical supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation will not incriminate Duterte.—AOL/KBK, GMA News