Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday hit back at presidential spokesperson Harry Roque for supposedly attempting to divert the public’s attention away from issue of allegedly overpriced pandemic supply.
“Spoken like a true troll. It is very unmanly and desperate of Roque to even mention my name,” Drilon said in a statement after Roque, during his regular briefing earlier in the day, claimed that the previous administration had bought personal protective equipment at a much higher price.
The previous administration was led by Drilon's party mates in the Liberal Party.
“It is very malicious and it is a futile attempt to divert attention away from this organized plunder. Ang ituro na lang ni Roque, sino ba ang backer ni Lao? Sino ang backer ng Pharmally?" Drilon said.
(Roque should instead identify the backer Lao. Who is the backer of Pharmally?)
Drilon was referring to former Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao, the head of the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS) when the government bought the highly-priced face masks and face shields.
Lao was a volunteer election lawyer during Duterte's campaign in 2016. He served in the Presidential Management Staff and was eventually appointed as DBM undersecretary.
On the other hand, Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation is a small firm which only had a paid-up capital of around P625,000 but secured over P8 billion worth of government contracts for the procurement of PPEs.
Roque, in his briefing, said the Aquino administration bought PPEs worth above P3,000 each in 2015 and 2016 while Duterte administration bought the PPEs at P1,700 each amid the pandemic.
"Senator [Franklin] Drilon, bakit hindi mo tanungin ang mga kakampi mo (why don't you ask your allies)," he said.
"Merong kumita, pero hindi sa administrasyon [Somebody made money, and it is not the administration]," he added.
The Senate blue ribbon committee is probing the transactions entered into by the DBM-PS with Pharmally.
The lawmakers were also seeking information on the possible links of Chinese businessman Michael Yang, President Rodrigo Duterte’s former economic adviser, to the officials of Pharmally. —Hana Bordey/KBK, GMA News
This article Drilon slams Roque for 'diverting' public attention from overpriced pandemic supply issue was originally published in GMA News Online.
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