33 execs of PS-DBM involved in Pharmally mess suspended by Ombudsman

THIRTY three former and present officials of the Procurement Service of the Departemnt of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and the Deparment of Health (DOH) has been suspended for their involvement in the graft-tainted purchases of the government’s pandemic supplies in 2020-2021, said the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires meted out a six-month suspension order on Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong, who was then the PS-DBM’s procurement group director, and his fellow respondents following a complaint filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and former Sen. Richard Gordon.

Gordon, then chair of the blue ribbon committee, spearheaded the Senate inquiry two years ago into the graft-tainted supply contracts awarded to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., a startup company with a paid-up capital of only P625,000 that bagged more than P11.5 billion worth of government healthcare supply contracts at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“After a careful evaluation of the records, this office finds compelling reasons to place the respondents under preventive suspension pending investigation of the instant case,” said Martires in an order dated March 20, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer on Wednesday.

“The overwhelming documentary proof shows that respondents’ evidence of guilt is strong,” he said.

Aside from Liong, who was appointed to his present post by former president Rodrigo Duterte in November 2020, also suspended without pay were Health Assistant Secretary Nestor Santiago Jr. and former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, who headed the PS-DBM when Pharmally secured the multibillion-peso contracts.

The PS-DBM officials named in the suspension order were:

Christine Marie L. Suntay

Fatimah Amsha A. Peñaflor

Joshua S. Laure

Earvin Jay I. Alparaque

Julius M. Santos

Paul Jasper V. de Guzman

Dickson T. Panti

Karen Anne Requintina

Rodevie Cruz

Webster Laureñana

Sharon Baile