Pharmally exec applied to be Yang’s aide, senators learn

MANILA, Philippines — An executive of Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. on Tuesday admitted he applied to work for former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang but did not secure the job, which he said he mistakenly put up on his LinkedIn account.

During the Senate blue ribbon committee’s investigation, Pharmally corporate secretary and treasurer Mohit Dargani was asked if he ever worked for the government.

Dargani was quick to deny this but Senator Risa Hontiveros, flashed a screenshot of the former’s LinkedIn account showing he described himself as a “Special Assistant to the Office of the Presidential Economic Adviser.”

Screengrab from Senate Youtube livestream

Dargani explained that he did try to apply for Yang’s office at the time.

“But because I am not Chinese and I don’t really communicate with their bosses, Mr. Yang, Mr. Ong advised me that I cannot work in that said office,” he added.

Dargani was referring to Pharmally director Linconn Ong, who Hontiveros noted also worked for Yang.

“Ngayon nagsama-sama sa Pharmally…Galing talaga ‘pag may network [Now you’re together in Pharmally…It’s amazing what connections can do] ,” Hontiveros remarked.

But Dargani maintained he “never worked for the government.”

Dargani said he only “assumed wrong” that he had been hired for a job in Yang’s office.

“I tried to apply there, and it was temporarily that I assumed that I was working there. I took that down eventually,” he added.

Senators are investigating the government’s transactions with Pharmally, which was awarded over P8.6 billion worth of supply contracts for medical supplies in 2020 despite being only several months old and having just P625,000 in paid-up capital.

Yang’s name first turned up in the Senate investigation after a 2017 video showed him introducing Pharmally officials to President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City.

During one of the hearings, Pharmally president Huang Tzu Yen admitted that his firm borrowed money from Yang to help them fulfill some of the government’s orders last year.

READ: Pharmally exec’s admissions suggest Yang has deep financial ties – Gordon

In a House hearing Monday, Yang insisted that it was his friends, not him, who funded Pharmally in some of its contracts with the government.

Huang, for his part, denied that they were favored in any way in the government’s procurement of medical supplies in 2020, saying the small company has been “unfairly prejudged.”

READ: Pharmally exec: All our business dealings are aboveboard

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