Pharmally official Mago leaves protective custody provided by House of Reps

Pharmally official Krizle Mago, who admitted to changing expiration dates of government purchased face shields before disowning her own words, is out of the protective custody of the House of Representatives, a House of Representatives leader said Wednesday.

House good government and public accountability panel chairman Michael Aglipay of DIWA party-list said Mago has left the lower chamber's custody on her own volition.

"It was voluntary protective custody. She was not held against her will," Aglipay said.

"Nagsulat siya ng letter sa leadership last week na gusto na niya umalis [She wrote the leadership last week that she wants to leave our custody]. We allowed her. She left two days ago," Aglipay added.

Mago initially told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, under oath, that Pharmally employees tampered the expiry dates of face shield for health workers bought from them by the Philippine government amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mago, however, later backtracked on her testimony and sought protective custody from the House of Representatives.

The Senate inquiry has revealed that  former Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao, Yang, Pharmally officials, and other suppliers of the Department of Budget Management's Procurement Service (PS-DBM) had no income tax records with the Bureau of Internal Revenue or had under-declared their taxable incomes in the past year.

Aglipay's panel conducted a separate Senate probe on the billions worth of pandemic supplies bought by the government from Pharmally Corporation, but the Committee report is yet to be released.

Aglipay said the draft committee report is still under review of the legal team of the Speaker's office.

"We should give them two to three weeks," he said.

"There are a lot of complicated issues, we should not rush things. But definitely, we will be careful in indicting anybody," he added. — BM, GMA News