Duterte: Do face shields expire? Duque answers yes, and says Pharmally could be liable

Do face shields expire?

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night took issue with the ongoing inquiry of the Senate on the supposed expired face shields procured by the Department of Health (DOH) from Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp.

"Paano ito mag-expire? Unless abusuhin mo, tapon-tapon mo, pero kung isuot mo lang at ilagay mo ng magandang pagkalagay, paano magexpire yan?" Duterte said in his weekly public address.

"Puwede mag-expire pero it will take 10, 15 years. Mag-expire 'yan dahil sa scratches. Eh kung maalagaan mo 'yan, magtagal 'yan," he added.

Duterte made the statement after an officer of Pharmally admitted before a Senate hearing that they tampered with the expiration dates of the face shields delivered by the firm to the Department of Health (DOH).

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said face shields have a shelf life of 36 months or three years.

"The DOH has established a shelf life for medical grade face shields. The shelf life is 36 months, according to our Disease Prevention and Control Bureau director Beverly Ho. There is a component of the face shield that has a styrofoam," he had said.

Duque said the DOH is now investigating the matter.  If proven true, he said the government will demand the necessary restitution from Pharmally.

"Batay sa siniwalat ng empleyado ng Pharmally, akin pong pinapa-inspect muli itong mga face shield na ito at kung totoong may mga pandaraya o ito pong ginawa ng Pharmally ay kinakailangan na bawiin ng gobyerno doon sa kompanyang 'yan 'yong isang taon na kanilang tinamper... kailangang magkaroon ng restitution sa gobyerno 'yong halaga ng face shield," he said.

Duterte slammed again Senator Richard Gordon, the chairperson of the blue ribbon committee leading the investigation.

"Itong sila Gordon wala ng ibang mahanap na puwedeng ibatong issue against officials of the executive eh ako I'm not bothered at all. Sabi ni Gordon yayanig ako," the president said.

Earlier, Gordon bared that they could no longer contact Krizle Grace Mago, the Pharmally official who divulged controversial testimonies on the firm's delivery of COVID-19 supplies to the government.

Meanwhile, a motion at the House inquiry was made to issue a subpoena for Mago to give a testimony to the chamber.

On Friday's Senate inquiry, Mago said she received the instructions to tamper with the date of the face shields from another Pharmally executive.

“The instructions came from our management po. I received instructions from the PPC management, particularly Mohit Dargani,” she told the committee.

Dargani denied the allegation.

The Senate panel is looking into the alleged overpriced pandemic items, including the face shields, bought by the government last year.—LDF, GMA News