As Ethics Panel Chief, Pacquiao Ready To Probe Go

Sen. Manny Pacquiao said on Wednesday, Sept. 1, that as head of the Senate ethics committee, he is ready to lead a probe on Sen. Bong Go should complaints be filed over the latter’s possible connection to the alleged anomalous multibillion-peso procurement of COVID-19 supplies from favored companies.

“As chairman of the ethics committee, if there are complaints that will be submitted to my committee, it is only just that I take action,” Pacquiao told ABS-CBN News Channel in Filipino.

Go has denied wrongdoing and denounced what he described as his “bullying” by colleagues in the Senate.

Pacquiao said the alleged ties between Go and Lloyd Christopher Lao, former head of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) who awarded tens of billions of pesos in contracts to companies linked by many to President Duterte, must be probed.

“We must ask about his (Go) name being linked to Christopher Lao and clarify to the people who is Christopher Lao and what is his relationship to Senator Go,” he said.

Earlier, Sen. Richard Gordon said there are at least four senators in favor of investigating Go.

 Gordon chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigating what senators believe was the “premeditated plunder” committed at the PS-DBM.

Senators earlier slammed Go for not defending the Senate when it was being attacked by the President.

They said Go should have explained to Duterte that the Senate was simply following up on findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) and conducting checks on spending of public funds as part of its duties.

Pacquiao said he hopes Go would not take offense with the questions being raised even as he asked Duterte not to protect erring officials. “We’re just performing our duties to seek clarification on all these issues in aid of legislation,” he said.

Senators are linking Go, Lao and two other officials to the awarding of supply contracts to companies that have ties to Duterte.

Pacquiao also vowed to file charges against Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church head Pastor Apollo Quiboloy for allegedly spreading false information a few months back that the senator had an anomalous P3.5-billion project in his home province of Sarangani.

‘Gov’t dealt with fugitives’

On the subject of procuring face masks and face shields from supposed favored supplier Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., Sen. Risa Hontiveros questioned the Duterte administration’s choice to transact with “fugitives.”

During a press conference via Zoom, Hontiveros revealed that Huang Wen Lie (also known as Tony Huang), chairman of Pharmally International Holdings, is wanted for securities fraud, stock manipulation and embezzlement in Taiwan.

 The senator presented to media a copy of a warrant of arrest for Huang Tzu Yen, the father of Tony Huang.

She said the elder Huang, incorporator of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. and Pharmally Biological Inc., is wanted for stock manipulation.

“Why our authorities didn’t find this out? This information is publicly available,” Hontiveros said, noting how she obtained a copy of the arrest warrant from the website of the Taiwan Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) on Dec. 29, 2020.

“Why is this government transacting with fugitives, including a father and son from Taiwan?” she said.

Hontiveros said she and other senators will try to establish the connection of Michael Yang, who always introduced himself to Pharmally as the economic adviser of Duterte.

She also expressed disappointment in former undersecretary Christopher Lao, who as chief of the PS-DBM failed to conduct “due diligence” which should have identified the Huangs as fugitives.

She added that Lao’s admission of negligence in the overpriced procurement from Pharmally does not shield him from prosecution or mean that he committed a crime less than plunder.

“If they became negligent and did not do due diligence, and the amount reached P3.8 billion for overpriced PPEs, how many times over that amount to qualify for the crime of plunder,” Hontiveros said.

She recalled that Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that the procurement of billions of pesos of overpriced face masks and face shields appeared to be “pre-meditated plunder.”

Hontiveros said the stench in Pharmally continues as some of its incorporators were also directors of another firm, Full Win, like Rose Lin and Gerald Cruz. She said Full Win’s chairman Zheng Bingqiang is also wanted for stock manipulation of Pharmally International Holdings.

She then presented reporters with an article in Chinese characters published in China in 2016 with a photo of President Duterte meeting with Yang and Zheng Bingqiang. –  With Cecille Suerte Felipe