News Roundup 17 November 2021
Nov 17, 2021 • 5 min Read
Pharmally’s Krizle Mago leaves House custody | PHILSTAR.COM – Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. officer Krizle Grace Mago is now out of the House of Representatives’ protective custody after requesting that she be released from it, House good government and public accountability panel chair Rep. Michael Aglipay (Diwa party-list) said. Aglipay told reporters Wednesday that Mago left House premises on Monday after she wrote to the chamber’s leadership that she wanted out of the protective custody that she sought back in October. “She wrote a letter to the leadership last week that she wanted to leave. So we allowed her,” Aglipay said in Filipino. Mago testified before the Senate that Pharmally, the company at the center of investigations on the government’s spending on pandemic supplies, tampered with the expiry dates of face shields it sold to the government. Following this explosive testimony, Mago went missing, only to surface at the House where she sought protective custody as she supposedly “cannot speak freely” about the congressional probes involving her company. She then appeared at a House hearing where she recanted her earlier testimony at the Senate on the tampering of face shields.
Coup rumors emerge from House as elections draw nearer | PHILSTAR.COM – Rumors of yet another leadership change at the House of Representatives are swirling as battle lines are drawn for the crucial 2022 elections. Coup rumblings were first made public by House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, who on Tuesday denied that there were plans to unseat House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco of the administration PDP-Laban party. “I have no intention to effect any leadership change, especially the speakership,” Romualdez said in a statement, adding that he will abide by the agreement brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte between him, Velasco and former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. Under the agreement, Romualdez sits as majority leader, while Cayetano gets to sit as speaker for 15 months and Velasco takes the helm afterwards for 21 months. This agreement fell through as lawmakers had to declare the speakership vacant despite Cayetano’s objections. His statement was followed shortly after by a Politiko report which speculated that a leadership change in the House is imminent after lawmakers, excluding those close to Romualdez, were invited to a dinner in Malacañang.
Gordon questions Dargani lawyer’s alleged try to hide Palace connection | INQUIRER.NET – The alleged attempt of one of the lawyers of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. executives Twinkle and Mohit Dargani to “hide” his previous work under the Office of the President (OP) “raises more questions” amid the inquiry on the controversial company, Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon said Wednesday. According to Gordon, one of the lawyers of the Dargani siblings for the Pharmally investigation is Atty. Daryl Ritchie Valles, who the senator’s office found to have worked previously with the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) that is under the OP. “We asked the OSAA (Office of Sergeant-at-Arms) to confirm if he indeed is the same Atty. Valles, we found out. He denied being from Malacañang though he said he was from Davao,” Gordon said in a text message to INQUIRER.net. “After his visit, and before he left, he was asked again by OSAA whether he was the same person connected with Malacañang. He finally admitted that he was although he claimed to have resigned from his post last February,” Gordon added. Gordon questioned why Valles had to hide an important fact, adding that it only raises more questions. “We do not understand why there was a need for the subterfuge, why there was a need to hide an important fact. Here, the attempt to hide a fact raises more questions as a result,” 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,” the senator added.
1Sambayan gears up for media campaign; will mobilize poll watchers to protect Robredo’s votes | Manila Bulletin – Opposition coalition 1Sambayan is gearing up for a “different kind of campaign,” one that will be purely fought in television, radio, and social media, but retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said another battle looms in protecting presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo’s votes come election time. Carpio, who hails from the Dutertes’ bailiwick of Davao City and is related through marriage to presidential daughter Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, shared that 1Sambayan is currently “mobilizing” by establishing chapters all over the country and overseas. This is in preparation not only for the campaign season, which begins February 2022, but for the protection of Robredo’s votes during the May 2022 elections. Sounding fears that the election returns “could be hacked while being transmitted” from the precinct level to the different canvassing boards in the district, municipal, and provincial levels, Carpio said that 1Sambayan will need two poll watchers for each of the 95,000 precincts to ensure the opposition standard-bearer’s votes are protected. “So, to counter check that, we have to have copies of the source document—the election returns. They will take pictures, transmit it to us, and we will counter check the Certificates of Canvass issued by the different canvassing boards,” he explained during the recent launch of Davao for Leni. “So, this requires a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of training, and we have to do this while we have to campaign,” Carpio stressed.
