Sabit sa Pharmally! Carpio: Duterte responsible for PS-DBM mess as Lao’s ‘real boss’

President Rodrigo Duterte was the real boss of former Department of Budget and Management Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao when he awarded nearly P8.7-billion worth of supply contracts to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. as head of the Procurement Service (PS-DBM), retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Thursday (Sept. 2).

In his column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Carpio said administrative control over PS-DBM is with the President as head of the executive branch of government. He said the President has the authority to “review, reverse, revise or modify the decisions” of the agency.

“In short, the real boss of Lloyd Christopher Lao when he headed the PS-DBM was President Duterte, who legally exercised direct administrative control over Lao when Lao entered into the questioned purchase contracts with Pharmally,” Carpio said.

The retired justice said that Lao “has thrown President Duterte under the bus” over the deal with Pharmally because Duterte was Lao’s boss.

“President Duterte, as the official exercising direct administrative control over Lao, will have a harder time escaping responsibility for any overpriced purchase contract that Lao may have awarded to Pharmally,” he said.

The Senate blue ribbon committee is currently investigating how Pharmally was able to corner the multibillion-peso contracts from PS-DBM despite its lack of track record and a paid-up capital of only P625,000. Duterte’s former economic adviser, Michael Yang, has been linked to the company.

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