MANILA, Philippines — In a stunning admission, Krizle Grace Mago, Pharmally Pharmaceutical’s head of Regulatory Affairs, admitted that she was instructed to change the expiration dates of their face shields. These face shields were procured by the government for health workers at the start of the pandemic.
The admission was addressed during the Senate’s Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Friday, September 24.
Earlier in the hearing, Senator Risa Honiveros presented a video testimony by a Pharmally warehouse employee. In the video testimony, the warehouse employee confessed that they were told to change the expiry year on the certificates of the face shields from 2020 to 2021. The witness noted that the supplies were repackaged despite being dented and dirty, and handled without the use of gloves.
“We did not throw away any face shield even though they are substandard, even though they are distorted, dirty, discolored and soiled. Some of them were soiled because of warehouse leaks.”
Video testimony of anonymous pharmally warehouse employee
Confronted by the legislators, Krizle Grace Mago admitted the claims of the witness. Mago said the instructions came from management, particularly the firm’s treasurer and secretary Mohit Dargani. Dargani denied the claims. However, Mago was adamant that instructions were given to her by the company’s upper management.
Senator Richard Gordon, head of the Blue Ribbon Committee, commented that the group swindled the government through tampering with production stickers on face shields. Mago replied to the Senator: “I believe that is the case.”
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is currently probing the handling of COVID-19 response funds. For the past few weeks, the committee has been investigating the national government’s procurement of supposedly overpriced supplies through Pharmally Pharmaceutical.