Reckoning of Bayanihan Law disbursements now!
Democracy Watch Philippines is alarmed by the reports of shady deals that link the Philippine government’s biggest supplier of medical goods during the COVID-19 pandemic to President Rodrigo Duterte’s former economic adviser Michael Yang.
According to these reports, Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, a little-known firm with close ties to Yang, was awarded a total of P8.68 billion worth of Bayanihan Law-funded supply contracts. The most of any supplier in 2020 and a whopping 6.78 billion more than the second biggest supplier, XuZhou Construction Machinery Group.
More of Pharmally Pharmaceutical’s shadowy character was uncovered when it was revealed that it won these supply contracts despite a mere PhP625,000 in paid capital and no track record to show. This is highly irregular as Philippine procurement laws require bidders to comply with a Net Financial Contracting Capacity to qualify for big ticket contracts. How could these violations been ignored by the bidding committee?
In addition, Pharmally Pharmaceutical was also previously flagged by legislators for selling overpriced supplies to the Philippine government. No less than data from the Government Procurement Policy Board shows that government purchased Personal protective equipment (PPEs) from Pharmally that were over priced by almost P2 Billion. According to publicly availably contracts, Pharmally was awarded a supply deal worth P3.82 billion to purchased PPEs at P1,910 per unit, a price more than double the government imposed price ceiling of P945 per PPE unit.
Democracy Watch echoes the deep concern Filipinos have for corruption in their government. The pandemic may have created opportunities for the corrupt to take advantage, however, we must not allow corruption to prosper.
We call on legislators and government anti-corruption bodies to investigate the alleged misuse of billions in Bayanihan Law funds. The rule of law, and not the rule of the corrupt, must prevail.