Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III expressed support for Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla’s plan to reopen the multibillion-peso Pharmally corruption case. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, October 10, Sotto wrote: “Karapatdapat!!!”
Remulla, who took his oath of office on Thursday, said the Pharmally case “seems forgotten” despite serious allegations of irregularities. He vowed to revisit the issue along with other unresolved corruption cases in government.
According to reports, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee previously found that Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., which had only ₱625,000 in paid-up capital, was awarded over ₱11.5 billion worth of contracts by the government during the pandemic. The investigation implicated several former officials of the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (PS-DBM), as well as former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, over the alleged anomalous fund transfers.
Former senator Richard “Dick” Gordon, who led the probe, had earlier urged the Ombudsman to hold accountable those involved in the controversy — including former president Rodrigo Duterte.