Pharmally and the pandemic of greed

The latest Sandiganbayan resolution asserting its jurisdiction over the graft charges against Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) officials involved in dealings with Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corporation is revealing.

This situation draws attention to the total disregard of transparency, accountability, and the law.

Years after the alleged PS-DBM and Pharmally transactions, the graft case is still delayed because the Office of the Ombudsman opted not to file at the Sandiganbayan, but in the Regional Trial Court of Malolos.

The Sandiganbayan’s ruling corrected a course that should not have drifted to begin with. The funds involved in the transactions between PS-DBM and Pharmally were no ordinary funds. They were part of the Bayanihan Fund, or emergency funds, as the public health response of the government in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, when everyone was living in fear.

The “Pharmally anomaly” should be one of the most alarming examples of alleged corruption in the country’s history.

The “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” (RA11469) was enacted to control the spread of Covid. This law gave the government much trust and discretion over public spending. In response to the national emergency, normal processes such as public bidding were relaxed to fast-track the procurement of health supplies.

But this discretion, intended to save lives, became a knob for abuse. Instead of controlling the spread of the virus, RA 11469 engendered another pandemic — that of greed.

In the wake of the pandemic, the Department of Health (DoH) transferred ₱P42 billion to the PS-DBM. The goal was to quickly buy much-needed medical supplies like masks, face shields, and test kits.

This was where Pharmally came in. It was established only in 2019 with just P625,000 in capital (pocket change compared to the billions it received in contracts). Despite having almost no record of past business, no warehouses, no inventory, and no named employees, PS-DBM trusted Pharmally with P8.6 billion in pandemic contracts. That amount was more than what most experienced and longstanding suppliers ever got during the crisis.

Senators who investigated the deal asked the obvious question: why was Pharmally, out of all possible suppliers, given so much public money? The answers they got during the hearings gave more reason for concern.

Pharmally officials admitted they had no stock on hand. They had to borrow money and buy supplies from other companies, pointing to connections with powerful people, including Michael Yang, former economic adviser to then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

Worse, the prices were way too high. For example, face masks that other companies sold for P13.50 to P17.50 were bought from Pharmally for P27.72 each. Other products like testing kits and PPEs were also found to be heavily overpriced. Some reports said expiry dates were tampered with. And yet, Pharmally kept getting contracts, often with missing paperwork or supporting documents. CoA auditors later struggled to trace where the money went.

And then there was the behavior of the people involved. The PS-DBM and Pharmally officials suddenly became afflicted with dementia (loss of memory and reasoning) and aphasia (loss of speech). When they were called to testify in the Senate, many answered, “I don’t remember,” or refused to answer clearly. Others went into hiding. The senators’ questions weren’t complicated. These were basic like: how were contracts given? Who signed them? Where did the supplies come from?

No one watching those Blue Ribbon hearings could walk away thinking this was all just a misunderstanding or that the damage to the government and to the public was loose change.

And yet, the Ombudsman would try to downplay all this by filing the graft case in the Malolos RTC after the facts were already out in the open for the whole world to see.

One need not have a law degree to see that the Pharmally anomaly was a major corruption issue. The Sandiganbayan is exactly where it should have been heard.

The Ombudsman’s job is to protect the people, not to slow the wheels of justice. In a case like this, where the facts were already aired in public, the Ombudsman should not have played the case the way it did. There should have been a full public investigation from the start. It was no use hiding behind legal technicalities when billions were spent while people were, literally and figuratively, fighting to breathe.

Ultimately, the Sandiganbayan’s decision was a necessary corrective. The truth isn’t hard to grasp. It’s not buried in legal jargon. It’s plain and simple. Public money meant to help Filipinos during their most desperate time was handed out carelessly — and possibly used for the benefit of a few. Everybody saw it. Everybody felt it.

The legal authorities must view Pharmally not as a lament but as a lesson — that when crises foment corruption, the response must be swift, public, and anchored on resolute fidelity to justice.

In the end, this is the moral responsibility of the Ombudsman. The people deserve not only the rule of law — but the assurance that the law shall rule in their defense, especially when they suffer most.