Naghahanap daw ng wala? Duterte claims some senators losing interest in Dick-led Pharmally probe with zero findings after 7 hearings

President Rodrigo Duterte is claiming that even senators in the Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Senator Dick Gordon are losing their appetite over its probe on Pharmally and alleged corruption in medical supply contracts.

“After seven hearings of proving nothing — no ghost deliveries, no illegal procedures — the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee continues to conduct their witch-hunt. But now only a few senators attended and even fewer were participating in the proceedings,” said Duterte in a briefing.

“Clearly even other committee members and other senators, I do not mention it in public, are starting to lose interest in its useless political circus. Some of the committee members are trying hard. But again in vain to find fault in the procurement process to the public of asking for requirements other than we required in addition to what was required in the bidding process,” he added.

The Blue Ribbon was originally meant to look into the Department of Health’s management of its over ₱67-billion pandemic response funds which the Commission on Audit said were not disbursed last year due to alleged “deficiencies” in DOH’s management of the fund due to non-compliance with pertinent laws.

But the probe has since zeroed in Pharmally’s P10 billion supply contract, its officials and auditor, and the role played by Presidential business special consultant Michael Yang.

Duterte has branded the probe as nothing but a “political circus” meant to boost the chances of senators like Gordon to win in the2022 elections. He called Gordon a “despot” for bullying government officials and hogging the proceedings.

Duterte parroted the line of Senator Bong Go and former Budget Secretary Christopher Lao that as far as the administration was concerned, it was able to procure face masks, PPEs, and testing kits under the rules laid down in the Bayanihan Law at a time when frontliners were dying due to the shortage of these essential supplies during last year’s pandemic.

The post Naghahanap daw ng wala? Duterte claims some senators losing interest in Dick-led Pharmally probe with zero findings after 7 hearings first appeared on .

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)