We need to pursue more to know who is accountable, who's behind this
In the long aftermath of a pandemic that tested the integrity of public institutions, the Philippine Ombudsman has suspended 33 government officials for their roles in over ₱4 billion worth of questionable COVID-19 supply deals — a moment that Senator Risa Hontiveros welcomes not as a conclusion, but as a threshold. The case against Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation has always carried a deeper question beneath its procurement irregularities: who designed the scheme, and who had the power to protect it? The suspensions confirm that something went wrong; what remains is the harder work of tracing wrongdoing to its source.
- The Ombudsman suspended 33 procurement and health officials for grave misconduct tied to three Pharmally deals worth more than ₱4 billion in COVID-19 test kits — the most concrete accountability measure since Senate hearings began.
- Senator Hontiveros and former Senator Gordon warn that the suspended officials are foot soldiers, not architects — and that the true masterminds, potentially including former Health Secretary Duque and named private figures like Michael Yang, remain unaccountable.
- Evidence against former President Duterte was insufficient at the Senate report's filing, but Hontiveros leaves the door open as the Commission on Audit's special audit into Pharmally transactions has yet to release its findings.
- Senators across party lines stress that preventive suspension is a holding measure — designed to stop officials from interfering with the case — not a substitute for criminal charges and potential imprisonment.
- Hontiveros signals she may file a resolution to reopen the Senate investigation if new evidence surfaces, framing the current moment as institutional progress rather than institutional failure.
The Pharmally scandal moved from Senate hearing rooms into formal accountability in March when the Ombudsman suspended 33 government officials tied to three pandemic supply deals — two in April 2020, one in June — totaling more than ₱4 billion for RT-PCR test kits. The charges included grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and serious dishonesty. For Senator Risa Hontiveros, the suspensions confirmed what the Senate's Blue Ribbon Committee had already established: that the evidence of wrongdoing was real and substantial.
But Hontiveros was clear that the order only reached mid-level officials and procurement staff — the people who processed the transactions, not those who conceived them. She called for the investigation to expand to personal protective equipment and other overpriced goods, and to climb toward whoever designed the scheme. She identified former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as bearing responsibility based on the Senate's findings, while acknowledging that evidence against former President Duterte was insufficient when the committee filed its report — though she noted that the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit were still working.
Former Senator Richard Gordon, who led 18 hearings on the matter, called the suspensions a fitting start and named four private individuals he considered the true masterminds, including Michael Yang and Linconn Ong. He emphasized that administrative suspension must be followed by criminal charges. Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel noted the suspensions were preventive — meant to keep officials from interfering with the case — while Senator Sherwin Gatchalian put it plainly: suspension was not enough; imprisonment had to remain the goal.
Hontiveros framed the delay not as dysfunction but as evidence that institutions were grinding forward as they should. The suspensions were a partial victory and a beginning — what remained was to follow the investigation wherever it led, toward the architects of a scheme that exploited a public health emergency for private gain.
The Pharmally scandal, which consumed Senate attention during the pandemic, took a concrete step forward in March when the Office of the Ombudsman suspended 33 government officials involved in three questionable supply deals. But for Senator Risa Hontiveros, the suspension order—while welcome—was only a beginning. She wanted the investigation to reach higher, to find the people who designed the scheme rather than those who merely executed it.
The three transactions at the center of the case involved 51,400 units of RT-PCR test kits, purchased for a combined total exceeding 4 billion pesos. Two deals closed in April 2020; the third in June. The Ombudsman's suspension order targeted procurement and health officials accused of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the service. The action stemmed from a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation conducted in the previous Congress, led by then-Senator Richard Gordon, which held 18 hearings to examine the purchases.
Hontiveros, the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, framed the suspensions as validation of what the Senate had already found: that the evidence of wrongdoing was substantial. Yet she pushed for the investigation to expand beyond the test kits themselves. "My hope is that the investigation will also look into the masterminds behind this modus, well beyond the foot soldiers and mid-level officials," she said. She wanted the probe to encompass personal protective equipment and other overpriced procurements as well.
When pressed on whether former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former President Rodrigo Duterte were among those masterminds, Hontiveros drew a distinction. Based on the Senate's investigation, she believed Duque bore responsibility. As for Duterte, she said the evidence available when the Senate filed its report was insufficient to implicate him directly—though she left open the possibility that ongoing investigations by the Ombudsman or the Commission on Audit might reveal more. The COA was conducting its own special audit into government transactions with Pharmally, and those findings had not yet been released.
Former Senator Gordon, who chaired the Blue Ribbon Committee, called the Ombudsman's action a "fitting culmination" to the committee's work, though he noted the order came despite the fact that the committee report itself was never formally approved during the 18th Congress. He named four non-government figures he believed were masterminds: Yang Hong Ming (also known as Michael Yang), Lin Wei Xiong, Linconn Ong, and Mohit Dargani. Gordon stressed that suspending the 33 officials was "a fantastic start" but not the end—criminal and administrative charges needed to follow.
Other senators echoed the sentiment that suspension was merely a holding action. Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel noted that the suspensions were meant to prevent those still in office from influencing the ongoing case. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who had not signed the committee report, was more direct: "This is only suspension. We need to pursue more to know who is accountable, who's behind this, and ultimately get fired or imprisoned."
Hontiveros indicated she could file a resolution to reopen the Senate investigation if new evidence emerged. She characterized the delay in reaching this point not as regrettable but as evidence that institutions were working as they should. The preventive suspensions represented progress, she said—a partial victory and a beginning. What remained was to follow the investigation wherever it led, to identify not just the officials who processed the orders but the architects of the scheme itself.
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My hope is that the investigation will also look into the masterminds behind this modus, well beyond the foot soldiers and mid-level officials.— Senator Risa Hontiveros
This is only suspension. We need to pursue more to know who is accountable, who's behind this, and ultimately get fired or imprisoned.— Senator Sherwin Gatchalian
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does Hontiveros think the investigation needs to go wider when 33 officials have already been suspended?
Because suspension is administrative—it removes people from their posts temporarily. It doesn't answer the fundamental question of who designed the scheme. The suspended officials are mostly mid-level procurement and health workers. Hontiveros believes there are people higher up who orchestrated the whole thing.
And she's naming names?
Carefully. She directly implicates former Health Secretary Duque. On former President Duterte, she says the Senate didn't have enough evidence when they filed their report. But she's leaving the door open for the Ombudsman to find more.
What about the non-government people Gordon mentioned—Yang, Lin, Ong, Dargani?
Those are the names Gordon put forward as the real architects. They're not government officials, so they weren't part of the Ombudsman's suspension order. But Gordon is saying they should face criminal charges.
So the suspensions are almost a distraction from the real investigation?
Not a distraction, but incomplete. Suspensions keep people from influencing ongoing cases. But as Gatchalian said, suspension doesn't answer who gets fired or imprisoned. That requires criminal charges, which haven't been filed yet.
What's the Commission on Audit's role in all this?
They're doing a separate special audit of all government transactions with Pharmally. That audit could reveal patterns or evidence that the Ombudsman investigation alone might miss. Hontiveros is waiting to see what they find.
Is there a sense this could still fall apart?
That's why Pimentel said senators need to constantly monitor the Ombudsman's actions. Suspension is reversible. Criminal charges are what stick. Until those are filed, the case remains fragile.