Duterte says he ordered use of gov't planes for China supplies; not for Pharmally, Galvez clarifies

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the use of government planes to transport medical supplies bought by the government from China.

Duterte confirmed this on Wednesday after senators sought details on the transport of the supplies using the country’s military and naval assets.

But the head of the government's task force for COVID-19 response clarified that government resources were not used to transport supplies bought from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, which has been the subject of a probe by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

“Well, it was my order,” Duterte said in his second public address this week.

“Sabi ko nga, use any means you want. Deliver it by land, water, or air. It’s a recorded meeting. You can look at it. Ako ang may utos noon, kasi gusto ko madalian. Ako ‘yung presidente,” he added.

NTF-COVID-19 chief Carlito Galvez Jr., however, later clarified that no government flights were used in the transportation of the alleged overpriced COVID-19 supplies brought from Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

“‘Yung kontrata po natin, hindi po sa Pharmally po ‘yun. ‘Yung unang kontrata po natin is with Chungzen atsaka sa Junhua, naalala po namin is 900,000 po ‘yun na kailangang kunin talaga ng C-130 atsaka nung PAL flights at Cebu Pacific,” Galvez said.

[Our contract was not with Pharmally. Our first contract was with Chungzen and Junhua, as I remember, was we needed to get 900,000, so we really needed a C-130 and PAL flights and Cebu Pacific.]

Galvez said the government 43 sorties of the C-130, which was able to pick up around 500,000 personal protective equipment sets.

“Ang isang sortie po ng C-130 is 12,000 pieces po ng PPE ang karga niyan. Kaya po humiram din tayo ng PAL flights na six flights na 15,000 each atsaka po ‘yung Cebu Pacific na 12 flights,” he said.

“At isang voyage ng ating BRP-Bacolod,” he later added.

The Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-PS) earlier confirmed that planes of the Philippine Air Force were used to fly the supplies.

Galvez said no Philippine aircraft was used in the transportation of Pharmally supplies.

"'Yung Customs at saka 'yung insurance at saka 'yung flight sa kanila po 'yun... kinukuha po 'yung ating mga PPEs doon sa China at dinadala po dito sa ating mga different ports sa Manila Port,  dito sa Davao Port, Cagayan de Oro Port, atsaka sa Visayas Port," he said.

The Senate is currently looking into the purchase of at least P8.68 billion worth of COVID-19 supplies by the PS-DBM with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.

While hitting senators over its investigation, Duterte has repeatedly defended the purchases from Pharmally. —JST, GMA News