Senate reso denouncing harassment of blue ribbon inquiry resource persons sought

A Senate resolution denouncing harassments of resource persons attending the Senate blue ribbon committee’s inquiry into the government’s procurement of COVID-19 supplies in 2020 was sought on Thursday.

Senator Francis Pangilinan made the suggestion after certified public accountant Mon Abrea informed the committee that there was a petition filed against him before the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) seeking for the revocation of his license.

“Bago po nagsimula ang Senate hearing ngayon, Mr. chairman, ako po ay  nakatanggap mula sa PRC at may nagre-reklamo po para ma-revoke ang CPA license ko,” Abrea said.

(Before the start of this Senate hearing, I received from PRC a notification on a complaint lodged against me, seeking to revoke my CPA license.)

“Gusto ko lang po ipaalam sa committee, Mr. chairman, kung sakali po akong mawawala, hindi po ako nagpa-bribe, mayroon lang po talagang mga tao na gusto akong i-discredit,” he added.

(I just want to inform the committee that in case I won't attend the next hearings, I was not bribed. There are just some people who want to discredit me.)

Apart from this, Abrea said he has been receiving “insinuations and unsolicited advice” to withdraw his attendance in the Senate hearings.

Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon sympathized with Abrea, saying harassments were launched against individuals actively participating in the hearings to “put them into submission.”

“Hinaharass ka na ngayon ng PRC as I told Senator [Risa] Hontiveros, kasama ‘yan sa ginagawa natin because they try to put you to submission. Haharasin ka,” the senator said.

(The PRC is now harassing you and as I told Senator Hontiveros, it is part of what we are doing in the investigation because they try to put you to submission. They will harass you.)

At the latter part of the discussion, Pangilinan suggested to file a proposed Senate resolution condemning such harassment.

“If this is true and this is in connection with his testimonies here before the Senate blue ribbon committee, I will seek the support of the members of the Senate that we file a sense of the Senate, a resolution [containing] the sense of the Senate assailing this harassment and urging the PRC to dismiss or avoid or prevent any such harassment suits on the basis precisely of Mr. Abrea’s involvement in terms of providing us guidance to better understand the ins and outs of the accounting, of the financial statements of Pharmally,” Pangilinan said.

Gordon backed Pangilinan’s motion, saying “no government [agency] should try and muffle a decent individual who was just trying to explain, and trying to harass him to submission and not cooperate.”

“That is why a letter is necessary to be given to the PRC… and this must be resolved or at least, pending the completion of all this investigation,” the senator said.

Red Cross

Gordon also claimed harassment against the Philippine Red Cross, the humanitarian organization which he chairs.

He said the operations of the Philippine Red Cross molecular laboratory in Cotabato City could not start because they were told they need to construct a bigger quarters for doctors and medical technicians.

“Aprubado na ng [Research Institute for Tropical Medicine], okay na mag-operate, alam po ba ninyo, pinigil ang sabi ‘di kayo pwede mag-operate hanggang lakihan ninyo ang bihisan ng doktor, bihisan ng mga technician e lahat dati naman ganon ang design sa Surigao, sa Isabela. Gano’n lahat ng design pero ngayon we have to spend another extra money,” he said.

(It was already approved by the RITM, but the operations was halted because they asked us to provide a bigger space for doctors and technicians even though this was the design that we constructed in our laboratories in Surigao and Isabela.)

“Gano’n na rin ang ginagawa ngayon kay Senator Hontiveros, at yan ang ginagawa sa ating lahat dito at yan din ang ginawa sa [Commission on Audit] na ihulog sa hagdanan ang mga ‘yan. So there is really a pattern,” Gordon noted.

(The same thing happened to Senator Hontiveros, to COA and to all of us here. So there is really a pattern.)

Gordon said the resource persons are put into submission because there are some who are hiding corruption and abuses.

On Thursday, a sedition complaint was filed by a Pharmally employee against Hontiveros with the Office of the Ombudsman.

Hontiveros, however, said the sedition complaint is laughable and is a “last ditch effort” of Pharmally and its backers.

The Senate panel continues to scrutinize the transfer of P42 billion COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM).

Apart from the transfer of multi-billion funds from the DOH to the PS-DBM, Senate investigation includes PS-DBM’s purchase of P8.6 billion worth of face masks, face shields, and PPEs from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, a firm that is being linked to Chinese businessman Michael Yang, Duterte's former economic adviser.

The company only had a P625,000 paid-up capital when it entered transactions with the government. — RSJ, GMA News