Rep. Janette Garin — INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin aired suspicion on Thursday that some of Cassandra Li Ong’s actions reflect the “complete picture of pathological liar.”
Garin was specifically referring to Ong’s response during the House of Representatives quad-committee hearing on Thursday when asked how she is doing after her blood pressure and sugar levels dropped during the previous hearing.
READ: Cassandra Ong excused from quad-comm hearing as BP fell to 80/40
Garin pointed out how the 24-year-old woman, who is linked to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, was all smiles while answering.
“When she was asked [about her] low sugar agad-agad naka smile pa with all eyes, ‘walang problema kasi may maintenance [medication]’,” she said, quoting Ong.
(When she was asked [about her] low sugar, she immediately smiled with all eyes, saying, ‘No problem because I have maintenance medication.)
“In other words, Mr. Chair, I hope I’m wrong, but her actuations and her actions reflect a complete picture of pathological liar,” Garin said.
Garin served as secretary of health from 2015 to 2016.
Ong was unable to provide specific details on the maintenance medicines she takes, which, according to her, are for low blood pressure and anxiety.
The lawmaker further pointed out that Ong was given an iced tea to normalize her blood sugar on the night she was excused from the hearing.
“Iced tea is full of sugar, just for the record, Mr. Chair. With that, it is very clear that the hypoglycemia or pagbaba ng sugar was self-inflicted,” Garin pointed out.
“Kaya po pag nangyayari ‘yan pinapakain ng White Rabbit [candy] at bumabalik sa normal [ang blood sugar]. That’s why I interjected Mr. Chair because very…very troubling sa akin as a mother and as a doctor,” Garin said.
(That’s why when that happens, we give [them] White Rabbit [candy], and the blood sugar returns to normal. That’s why I interjected, Mr. Chair, because it’s very… very troubling to me as a mother and as a doctor.)
READ: Lawmakers fume over Cassandra Ong’s behavior at House hearing
Ong was excused from the hearing last September 4 after her blood pressure fell to 80/40, with medical staffers saying that it may be a sign of hypotension.
During the hearing, she went to the bathroom for a short break but was unable to come back after she asked for medical assistance.
Hours after she was attended to by medical staffers, House physician Dr. Jose Luis Bautista said that Ong’s situation was unstable.
“To put it in a nutshell, Ms. Cassandra Ong is quite unstable as of this moment, so definitely, as I saw it earlier, her blood sugar was very low, unreadable even through the RBS (random blood sugar test), and now it was after giving her carbohydrates that it was raised to 269,” Bautista said.