MANILA (UPDATE) - Sen. Richard Gordon on Friday questioned how several Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp officials were able to buy new luxury vehicles months after bagging billions-worth of contracts from the Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service (PS-DBM).
Pharmally executives Linconn Ong, Mohit Dargani and his sister Twinkle Dargani had at least 4 luxury vehicles registered less than a year after the company supplied allegedly overpriced face masks and RT-PCR test kits even if it only had a P599,000 capital, said Gordon, who heads the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
"Mga bata pa ito. Wala pa atang 30 years old ito," he said.
(They are young. They may not even be 30 years old."
"Talagang nagpapasasa talaga ang mga taong ito di umano," he said.
(They really took advantage of this, allegedly.)
Records from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that Twinkle Dargani had a 2021 Lamborghini Urus registered under her name in December 2020, about 9 months since their first transaction with the PS-DBM. That vehicle is worth P25 million.
Five months later, her brother Mohit got a 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S registered under his name. The car costs P8.5 million.
Ong registered a 2021 Porsche Carrera 4S - worth P13.5 million - in February 2021, while his 2021 Lexus RCF - worth P5.9 million - was registered after 5 months.
"Paano mo ipapaliwanag 'yan?" Gordon asked.
(How can you explain that?)
The Pharmally officials have yet to answer queries about their recent luxury purchases.
The Senate earlier issued an arrest warrant against Ong.
Mohit is in the United States allegedly to prepare for his sister's wedding, while Twinkle is still in the Philippines.
The Department of Justice has included their names in the Bureau of Immigration's watch list order so the Senate panel would be informed should they try to flee the Philippines.
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