Tip of the iceberg? Lacson bares ‘syndicate’ behind Pharmally’s supply contract

Sen. Panfilo Lacson (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines —Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Thursday bared that there’s a supposed syndicate behind Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., the company that bagged billions worth of government deals to procure COVID-19-related medical supplies for health workers.

Lacson said a witness has expressed intent to cooperate with the Senate’s investigation on the controversial procurement of allegedly “overpriced” personal protective equipment, face masks and shields made by the Department of Budget and Management – Procurement Service (DBM-PS) on behalf of the Department of Health (DOH).

“Definitely, merong syndicate. Or apparently, sabihin natin, meron talagang sindikatong involved. You’ll be surprised, we are working on something that could further open up itong kaso ng Pharmally,” Lacson said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.

(Definitely, there’s a syndicate. Or apparently, let’s say there’s a syndicate involved. You’ll be surprised,  we are working on something that could further open up the issue on Pharmally.)

Pressed if the supposed exposé would reveal possible links beyond the DBM-PS and the DOH, Lacson said: “We hope so.”

“We haven’t talked to the person yet. But he already manifested his intention to fully cooperate,” he added.

Lacson added he hopes this connection would eventually lead to the “syndicate” behind the government deals being questioned before the Senate.

“I hope pagka nagtestify yung sinasabi ko, magoopen up lahat, maraming mabubuksan dito,” he said.

(I hope if the person I’m talking about testifies, it will open up everything, many issues will be opened up here.)

“I just hope the chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee as well as my colleagues will still continue with this investigation. That’s all I can say right now, we’re just waiting for some developments. I hope this can open up a whole lot of information,” he went on.

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