THE Senate Blue Ribbon Committee did not contemplate bringing an impeachment case against President Duterte in the House of Representatives — it is rather late in the day for that — but the fact that they emphatically named him a betrayer of public trust in connection with his actions related to the government’s multi-billion-peso contracts with Pharmally Corp. is enough indictment on a failing presidency.
“At some point after his term of office, charges must be considered against President Rodrigo Duterte for what has transpired in this great anomaly,” the report of the Blue Ribbon Committee, headed by Sen. Richard Gordon, said.
“After all, he was the one who appointed all the people who approved these transactions and aggressively protected and defended them when they were caught in this horrible crime against our people. In the course of doing so, the President attempted to diminish the Senate and COA (Commission on Audit), institutions that safeguard our democracy and integrity,” it added.
The committee’s 113-page partial report also recommended plunder, other criminal and administrative charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, former government officials, and Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. executives.
‘It should be a great relief
that the Senate finally ended the Pharmally scandal public hearings and a committee report has been
released. The ball is now in
President Duterte’s court…’
Going by tradition that the President could not be sued during his actual incumbency, the panel said the charges against Duterte should be prepared after he leaves office, which is just five months from now.
The committee said Duterte betrayed public trust, in violation of his oath of office under the 1987 Constitution. He appointed “foreign national Michael Yang as economic adviser to the President, who later brought Chinese suppliers with whom the government transacted and in the process enriched himself immensely.”
The report also said Duterte accepted and tolerated an undercapitalized firm owned by a Taiwanese fugitive and with proven ties to Yang in cornering government contracts about procurement of COVID-19 supplies. The President was also cited for failing to hold accountable his appointees who were involved in one of the biggest plunder of the Philippines’ coffers in recent history. The report added that Duterte shielded these suspected conspirators in the multi-billion-peso government purchasing scandal from Senate and Commission on Audit inquiries.
The Gordon committee report asked the hard questions, such as: “The most troubling question remains — why was the President so quick to defend those closest to him once their names were linked to the anomaly and then so eager to discredit the Senate investigation, prevent his appointees from cooperating, and absolve them of any liability?”
The partial report alleged that Duque violated Section 2 of Republic Act No. 7080 or the Plunder Law. Others who were found in violation of the law were former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang, former Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM) officer-in-charge Christopher Lloyd Lao, Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong, Pharmally executives Linconn Ong, Mohit Dargani, Twinkle Dargani, Krizle Grace Mago, Huang Tzu Yen as well as Chinese businessman Lin Weixiong and DBM official Dickson Panti.
It should be a great relief that the Senate finally ended the Pharmally scandal public hearings and a committee report has been released. The ball is now in President Duterte’s court to reply, even as he realizes that the moment of reckoning is near.
