Senator wants Duterte included in Pharmally case raps

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros has urged the Office of the Ombudsman to indict former president Rodrigo Duterte for graft over the irregular transfer of the P47.6-billion budget for the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

Hontiveros was reacting to former health secretary Francisco Duque III’s admission during a House of Representatives hearing last Monday that Duterte authorized the controversial transfer of funds to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) that was flagged by the Commission on Audit.

“I am not surprised by former secretary Duque’s revelation. Since Duque made this statement under oath, former president Duterte should be included in the investigation,” Hontiveros said.

“As the ombudsman continues its Pharmally probe, I trust that it will take this revelation into account,” she added.

The senator pointed out that Duterte should be charged with graft because it was through him and his former economic adviser Michael Yang that the overpriced pandemic supply contract with pharmaceutical firm Pharmally pushed through.

“It can be proven that he was introduced to Pharmally officials by Michael Yang, his special adviser, in 2017,” Hontiveros said of Duterte’s role in the graft-tainted contract.

“Duterte should, at the very least, explain the policy considerations that resulted in his directive to secretary Duque,” she added.

Duque namedropped Duterte following his graft indictment and dismissal from service for the anomalous P41.46-billion fund transfer from the Department of Health (DOH) to PS-DBM, then headed by former budget undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, without a valid memorandum of agreement in 2020.

Lao also faces a separate graft case for favoring Pharmally with a P11.5-billion pandemic supply contract despite its not being qualified and having little capital.

Hontiveros took part in the Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigations on the Pharmally mess led by then senator Richard Gordon.

In an interview with ANC yesterday, Gordon said the Blue Ribbon report on Pharmally, which he prepared but did not get enough signatures from his colleagues, implicated Duterte as “starting the wheels of