Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., which bagged the government contracts for the supply of face masks and face shields, generated a profit of P393 million from April to June 2020, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Monday.
“Ang tubo ng Pharmally dito sa government transaction ay P393 million ito po’y sales lamang mula nung April hanggang June of 2020,” Drilon said in an interview on Teleradyo.
(Pharmally generated a profit of P393 million from government transactions from April to June 2020.)
The Senate blue ribbon committee is currently investigating the controversial procurement of “overpriced” personal protective equipment (PPE), face masks and shields made by the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service on behalf of the Department of Health.
Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. bagged the government contracts worth over P8.6 billion in 2020 despite being only several months old and having just P625,000 in paid-up capital.
Drilon reiterated that Pharmally’s tax records and tax liabilities should be looked into.
Based on records, Pharmally is classified as a domestic corporation subject to the provisions of Section 27 of the Tax Code, the senator noted.
“Mukhang hindi naman manufacturing ito kundi trading so wala pong manufacturing cost ito, puro binili lang nila ito sa isang supplier sa Tsina at binenta dito sa atin,” Drilon pointed out.
(This firm is not a manufacturing company but a trading company, so there’s no manufacturing cost for the items, they just bought these supplies from China and sold them to us.)
“Ang tanong, nagbayad ba sila ng 12 percent na value added tax? Nagbayad ba sila ng income taxes dito sa kanilang tubo na umaabot sa aming bilang na mahigit sa P393 million na tubo sa 2020,” he added.
(The question is, did they pay the 12-percent value added tax? Did they pay income taxes for the P393-million profit they generated in 2020?)