Pharmally Whistleblower Backtracks, Says Senate Testimony a ‘Pressured Response’

The Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. officer who was “out of reach” for a few days after making bombshell testimonies before the Senate said Monday she was pressured to claim that the firm swindled the government.

Pharmally officer Krizle Grace Mago turned up at the continuation of the House panel hearing on the issues involving the government’s procurement of COVID-19 supplies. She has been under the protective custody of the chamber after being unreachable for days.

Under questioning from Sen. Richard Gordon, Mago said during an earlier Senate hearing that Pharmally might have “swindled” the government after she admitted to the tampering of expiration dates of the face shields they delivered to the government.

“Regarding my previous statement that I believed we swindled the government, it was a pressured response,” Mago now told House lawmakers.

“Given the level of pressure I was under and the rush of emotions associated with the allegations and my subsequent admission, I was not in the best frame of mind to think clearly,” she said.

What prompted her to believe that Pharmally swindled the government was the fact that it had delivered 28% of the face shields to the Department of Health, Mago said.

“However, after the Senate hearing, I realized that the delivered items had not been inspected yet and, as a result, had not been allocated and distributed to the end-users,” she added.

Backtracking further from her previous statement, Mago denied the claim of the warehouseman in the video presented by Sen. Risa Hontiveros that Pharmally supplied to the government "soiled and substandard" face shields intended for doctors and health care workers.

“Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. has never delivered damaged items to the government, nor does it intend to,” she said.

“Contrary to the allegations made, these damaged items are immediately segregated subject to proper disposal, and therefore excluded from delivery,” she added.

Hontiveros, responding to Mago’s fresh statements, said the Pharmally could not have been pressured merely by the questions from the senators. The questions, she added, were only directed to her and she answered candidly.

“Kung mayroon mang nagpe-pressure sa kanya, yan siguro ay isang napakamakapangyarihang pwersa para lang bawiin ang kanyang mga naunang sinabi sa amin,” Hontiveros said.

The Senate blue ribbon inquiry on the procurement of COVID-19 supplies will resume on Tuesday, but there is no assurance yet that Mago will attend.