Thread by @PhilstarNews

HAPPENING NOW: The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee resumes its hearing on deficiencies in pandemic spending flagged by state auditors. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Pharmally exec Krizle Grace Mago is not in attendance today.

"She is missing," Blue Ribbon staff says.

Mago admitted last week that the firm tampered with the expiry dates of face shields. She said she believed Pharmally was swindling the gov't by doing so. | @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Mago's boss, Mohit Dargani, says he does not know where she is.

He says the last time he spoke to her was last Saturday morning (Sept. 24).

Blue Ribbon chairman Richard Gordon announced Sunday that the panel had been unable to reach Mago since Friday night. | @BellaPerezRubio

Sen. Gordon again chides President Rodrigo Duterte for lambasting the Senate and defending his appointees.

"[You are] a defender of liars," he says. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Senate President Vicente Sotto III chimes in, "Wag niyo gamitin yung pandemya para mangatwiran para sa inyong pagkululang."

"Our people are not shallow-minded. If you have nothing to hide, just show proof," Sotto adds. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Rose Nono Lin of Pharmally Biological Corp. is not present at today's hearing.

In a letter to Blue Ribbon, Lin's lawyers say she is resting after a CT scan revealed she may have "an inflammation of lymph nodes in the abdomen." | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Senators are trying to pin down who ordered PS-DBM's inspection division to sign inspection reports for medical supplies from China that had not yet been delivered. | via @BellaPerezRubio

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@BellaPerezRubio Former chief accountant Allan Catalan (R) denies that the order came from him.

But both he and former inspection chief Jorge Mendoza (L) say that there was a "general directive" to fast-track transactions involving supplies needed for COVID-19 response. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio When pressed by senators, who warn that they could be liable for falsifying official documents, they admit this directive came from then-PS-DBM chief Lloyd Christopher Lao. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Sen. Francis Pangilinan bares that another undercapitalized and newly-incorporated firm, Element Trade Ltd. bagged contracts worth P6.98 billion with PS-DBM. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Pangilinan says Element Trade was incorporated on April 22, 2020, with a paid-up capital of just USD 10,000.

"Clearly, the record will show that undercapitalized suppliers and corporations were able to bag billions of pesos worth of contracts [with gov't]." | @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Pharmally director Linconn Ong reiterates that firm received financial assistance from former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang.

But when he is pressed anew about how much money was loaned by Yang to Pharmally, he again falls back on an NDA he signed. | @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Asked by Sen. Franklin Drilon if the NDA is notarized, Ong says: I don't think so.

Drilon: It could have been executed last week, right?

Ong: I have to invoke my right against self-incrimination. | via @BellaPerezRubio

@BellaPerezRubio Drilon tells Ong: Your refusal to answer even a question on when you signed the NDA or how much Yang assisted you financially...That is a classic example of the need of this committee to exercise its power to detain you until you answer our questions. | via @BellaPerezRubio