Panel chair asks Gordon to allow Pharmally's Ong to attend House probe

House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chairman Representative Michael Aglipay on Tuesday asked Senator Richard Gordon to allow Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. director Linconn Ong to attend the panel's inquiry into the controversial purchase of COVID-19 supplies.

In a letter addressed to Gordon, who heads the Senate blue ribbon committee conducting a similar investigation, Aglipay said his panel is inviting resource persons from various government offices who may help shed light on the issue.

One of the resource persons, he said, is Ong, who is detained at the Senate due to his supposed evasive answers during last week's inquiry.

"In this regard, may we respectfully request your Honor's and that of your committee the permission to allow Mr. Ong to participate via Zoom Video Conferencing to the hearing of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on October 4, 2021 at 11 a.m.," Aglipay said.

He also asked Gordon's office to provide Ong the facility and equipment to join and participate in the House inquiry.

Both chambers of Congress are investigating the purchase of COVID-19 items last year in which Pharmally bagged billions of pesos worth of government contracts despite its paid-up capital of only a little over P600,000.

Ong earlier disclosed that Pharmally’s funds were loaned to them by former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang. Ýang, however, said his Chinese friends were the ones who financed the firm.

Ong also backed out of the executive session or closed-door meeting with senators upon advice of his legal counsel, Attorney Ferdinand Topacio.

Meanwhile, the House panel also issued a subpoena ad testificandum for Krizle Mago, the Pharmally executive who disclosed the supposed tampering of face shields' expiry dates during a Senate hearing last week.

Gordon has said Mago could no longer be reached after her revelation.  This prompted the Senate blue ribbon committee to seek the help of the National Bureau of Investigation in locating Mago. —KBK, GMA News