Senator Richard Gordon said the two Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. executives who were arrested after trying to board a private jet at the Davao City Aiport were visited by a Malacanang lawyer.
Gordon said Atty. Daryl Valles who is from the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (SAP) visited siblings Mohit and Twinkle Dargani at the Senate detention facility Tuesday.
“Yesterday, a lawyer who introduced himself as Daryl Ritchie Valles came to seek permission to visit Mohit and Twinkle Dargani. He presented himself as the siblings’ legal counsel. Before he was allowed entry we looked into who he was; and we found out that per Office of the President Directory he is a Director IV at the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (SAP), the position then occupied by Senator Bong Go,” said Gordon.
But Gordon said the Darganis are entitled to counsel. “That is a right we intend to always honor. They can hire whichever lawyer their money can buy. Or, they can hire a decent lawyer too,” he said.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go said that he resigned as SAP in 2018. He is no longer connected with the said office for the past 3 years as he is serving as senator. He heard that Valles had resigned from the Office of the President and had moved to other jobs. He said this can be confirmed by Palace officials or Valles himself.
“Like what I and President Duterte have repeatedly said, those with committed any wrongdoing should be arrested, charged, and held liable,” Go said.
Malacañang Acting spokesperson Cabinet Sec. Karlo Nograles also said Valles is no longer connected with Malacanang at the time of his visit to the Dargani siblings.
Based on the records of the Human Resources Management Office, he said the lawyer was formerly under the Office of the President, and resigned on March 1, 2021.
“Further inquiries revealed that upon leaving the Office of the President, Atty. Valles thereafter worked in an office under the House of Representatives,” added Nograles.
Sought yesterday for further details Gordon said, “facts speak volumes.”
Gordon further said Valles “denied being from Malacanang though he said he was from Davao. After his visit, and before he left he was asked again by OSAA whether he was the same person connected with Malacanang. He finally admitted that he was although he claimed to have resigned from his post last February.”
The Senate Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) pounced on the Darganis Sunday at the Davao Internal Airport while about to leave for Kuala Lumpur. They were accompanied by their mother.
The siblings were hauled off to the Senate detention facility after being cited in contempt last October 19 by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Gordon for refusing to submit to the source documents of the financial statements of Pharmally.
Gordon’s committee is investigating the P42-billion scandal involving the procurement of medical supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite a paid-up capital of over P500,00, Pharmally bagged some P11 billion in supply contracts from the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management.
Malacañang said Valles is no longer connected with the Office of the President. President Duterte’s acting spokesperson Karlo Nograles said that upon leaving the Office of the President, Valles worked in an office under the House of Representatives.
Pharmally executive Krizle Grace Mago meanwhile is no longer in the custody of the House of Representatives, according to DIWA party-list Rep. Michael Aglipay, chairman of the House
good government and public accountability which conducted the congressional inquiry into the alleged overpriced and tampered personal protective equipment for medical frontliners.
Mago admitted in sworn testimony before the Senate that her company had swindled the government by tampering with the manufacturing dates of face shields sold to it. But in a House hearing she denied her account, calling it a “pressured response.”
Mago, who had been in the protective custody of the House since Oct. 1, also denied allegations that Pharmally delivered expired, substandard, and tampered COVID-19 supplies to the government.
Aglipay said Mago wrote the leadership last week that she wants to leave the chamber’s custody.
Aglipay said his committee will come out with the committee report anytime soon as the draft committee report is still under review of the legal team of the Speaker’s office. With Maricel V. Cruz
