"SINONG PINAGPALA?"
Hontiveros asks Pharmally employee: Who ordered irregular delivery of millions of face masks?

Senator Risa Hontiveros has pressed Pharmally incorporator Krizle Mago to reveal to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee who ordered the irregular delivery of millions of face masks.

In the most recent hearing on the mismanaged COVID-19 funds, the senator showed a message exchange between Mago and a former employee of the Procurement Service- Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), in which Mago asked if the PS-DBM employee was aware that Pharmally delivered 2 million pieces of surgical masks.

In the text exchange, Mago also said she was only told to deliver the goods by a certain "boss."

Asked to reveal who she was referring to, Mago pointed to Pharmally representatives Mohit Dargani and Linconn Ong. Both Dargani and Ong denied knowledge of the supposed order.

"Ang lakas naman ng loob nilang mag-deliver ng ganyan kadami. The only logical conclusion is that someone might have underhandedly guaranteed this contract for them even before any documentation was done. Ang tanong: Sino ang pinagpalang ito?" Hontiveros asked.

"May sinabi si Krizle na 'boss' na taga-utos? Sino nanamang anak ng Diyos ito? Bakit siya ang nagmamando kung ilan at ano ang idedeliver? Ang lakas naman ng kapit sa PS-DBM, gumagawa na yata ng sariling proseso," the senator said.

Hontiveros then flagged Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation's unsolicited delivery of two million units of surgical masks even before the company received a Request for Quotation or a Notice of Award.

"Nagpadala sila ng two million face masks na hindi pa nga sila nabibigyan ng presyo. The price of masks in the first quarter of 2020 was very volatile. In fact, sabi ng source namin, siya pa ang nag-alala na baka hindi makuha ng Pharmally ang expected nila na price," Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros then presented the correct process for an emergency procurement: issuance of request for proposals, opening of proposals, evaluation, negotiation (e.g. terms of delivery), issuance of resolution recommending the award, issuance of the Notice of Award, and then the Purchase Order.

"Sa kaso ng Pharmally, nauna ang 500,000 mask delivery before notice of award. Nauna ang 500,000 mask delivery before purchase order. Tapos itong 2 million pieces of surgical mask, walang notice of award, walang purchase order, at ni walang request for quotation," Hontiveros said.

"Maraming matitinong manggagawa sa gubyerno pero may mga di kanais-nais na indibidwal na binabahiran ng kamalian ang kanilang trabaho. Ang nakapagtataka bakit hinayaan ito ng liderato ng PS-DBM? It seems a very powerful person is keeping our own government on a tight leash," Hontiveros concluded.