Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. should make restitution to the government if the alleged production date tampering of procured face shields is proven.
Duque said in President Rodrigo Duterte’s Sept. 27 public address that the allegation is being investigated through the reinspection of the face shields.
“Kung totoong mayroong pandaraya o ito pong ginawa ng Pharmally ay kinakailangang bawiin ng gobyerno ‘yung isang taon na kanilang tinamper,” he said.
“Halimbawa 36 months ano po at tinamper ‘yung production date from 2020 to 2021, so may isang taon na daya. So kinakailangan ‘yung isang taon na ‘yun magkaroon ng restitution,” he added.
Speaking in his Sept. 28 briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government “will exercise all legal remedies” if the allegations are true.
“Kung mayroon pong tampering at iyan po ay requirement at mayroon silang official document na pinirmahan na it was manufactured on a certain date, pupuwedeng maging falsification po iyan,” he said.
A Pharmally official confessed in a recent Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that there was a changing of government-procured face shields’ production dates.
Duterte hits Gordon anew
The President pointed out in his public address the lawmakers’ treatment of resource persons amid the ongoing Blue Ribbon hearings on personal protective equipment (PPE) deals.
“Talagang itong sila Gordon obvious na wala nang bi — wala nang ibang mahanap na pupuwedeng ibato ng issue against officials of the executive. Eh ako, I am not – I am not bothered at all,” he said.
He said the treatment of resource persons has become “more than a Martial Law.”
“Is there a due process of law if you already have the preconceived answer, and if it does not dovetail with your frame of mind, you send him to jail?” he said.
“Durugin na ninyo [ang Pharmally], pero not at the expense of the constitutional rights of whoever is testifying there,” he added.
Duterte also questioned the reported expiration of face shields for medical workers, saying that it would take 10 to 15 years for the equipment to expire due to scratches.
Duque said medical grade face shields have a shelf life of about 36 months, with a possibility of the attached foam’s deterioration.
Meanwhile, the DOH said the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) is probing the reported false positive RT-PCR test results of several Philippine Red Cross testing laboratories.
The investigation is expected to be completed by October 8. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-rir
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