Hontiveros calls on DBM to stop transacting with Pharmally

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to stop accepting proposals from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation due to its ties with Pharmally International Holdings Corporation, which was supposedly charged with financial fraud.

"Pera ng taumbayan ang ginagamit para bayaran ang bilyon-bilyong halaga ng kontrata para sa ating COVID-19 response," the senator said in a statement.

(It is the Filipinos' money that is being used to enter into agreements when it comes to our COVID-19 response.)

"Hindi pwedeng ang kaban ng bayan ay napupunta pala sa mga kumpanyang hindi pala mapagkakatiwalaan. This dubious supplier must go,” Hontiveros added.

(The money should not go to companies that are not trustworthy.)

Citing the Taipei Times, Hontiveros said Huang Wen-lai, the chairman of Pharmally International, was issued an arrest warrant for allegedly transferring NT$700 million into his personal account.

According to the report, Huang was accused of colluding with Chinese businessmen to “falsify accounts and financial statements in one of the largest securities fraud cases in the past few years involving a Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE)-listed firm.”

The senator's office further retrieved a disclosure statement from an annual shareholder report of a different holding corporation, indicating that Huang Tzu Yen, one of the owners of the Pharmally Pharmaceutical, is the son of Huang Wen-lai.

Hontiveros believed that it is unacceptable for the DBM to award Pharmally with contracts.

"Is the DBM simply failing to do its due diligence or is it in cahoots with this questionable local firm? Either way, it is deplorable all the same," Hontiveros said.

"We should not hesitate to end contracts with companies that may be involved with illegal activities, whether here or abroad,” she added.

During a Senate inquiry, Senator Franklin Drilon bared that Pharmally bagged a P8.68-billion contract from the DBM-PS for the procurement of various pandemic supplies such as face masks.

Former DBM-PS chief Christopher Lao told senators that they were able to contact Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation through diplomatic channels.

Drilon had questioned Pharmally’s capability to deliver the supplies when the firm, which started its operation in September 2019, only had P625,000 in paid-up capital.

Meeting with Duterte?

In a separate virtual press conference, Hontiveros was asked for comment on the video that showed Pharmally officials having a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and his former adviser Michael Yang.

For the senator, it seems that the firm has "friends in high places."

"Ang impression ko talaga kung atin ngang iko-connect the dots ay mukhang may friends in high places itong Pharmally," Hontiveros said.

(My impression is that Pharmally seems to have friends in high places.)

"Ang ilan naman sa mga kumpanya ay nakakapagpulong sa Presidente mismo and nandoon na nga si Mr. Yang. Siya ba ang nagrekomenda sa Pharmally hindi lang sa DOH at sa PS-DBM kundi pati sa Office of the President?" she added.

(Mr. Yang was there. Did he recommend Pharmally to the DOH, the PS-DBM and even to the Office of the President?)

She said the Senate blue ribbon committee would continue its hearing on the matter to also establish the implication or connection of the said meeting in the procurement of COVID-19 supplies.

Hontiveros said it would be very possible for the Blue Ribbon committee to recommend the filing of charges against Lao and other personalities.—DVM/AOL, GMA News