MANILA (UPDATE) – Sen. Imee Marcos will not sign Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Sen. Richard Gordon’s penned report on the panel’s Pharmally investigation.

Marcos, a member of the committee, said all she wanted was a thorough investigation over how the government has spent the pandemic fund but the probe, she hinted, went overboard.

"I participated in the hearing, but I’m not signing the committee report," she said.

"We wanted an investigation. But I think there were many inclusions that do not, or were not merited given the evidence available," Marcos, in an interview, told journalists.

Marcos believes signing the report even with reservation or intent to interpellate would mean agreeing to its findings.


"Very often we sign but with reservation or interpellate with amendment. But in general, it signifies your ascend to the committee report," she said.

Marcos, a known supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, said she was not aware if other senators close to the Chief Executive shared the same stand.

Duterte had lambasted senators who led the Pharmally probe and denied allegations of irregularity in government transactions. Senators meanwhile denied using the probe for politics and said they were only fulfilling their constitutional duty.

Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who is not a member of the committee, said he would always side with what the majority would prefer. But he will sign the report if he is a member of the panel, added Dela Rosa, who was Duterte's first national police chief.

Marcos on Wednesday reiterated her call to abolish the Department of Budget and Management's procurement service (PS-DBM) that was behind government's deals with Pharmally.

• Imee Marcos moves to abolish PS-DBM, PITC created during dad's presidency

"It’s a creation of my father. It’s a Marcos relic and we don’t need it anymore. Some things have outlived their usefulness," she told ANC's Headstart.

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