Senator Risa Hontiveros has revealed that President Rodrigo Duterte had a direct engagement with fugitive Huang Wen Lei, chairman of Pharmally International, which is the mother company of local firm Pharmally Pharmaceutical.
The company has bagged over P8.6 billion in contracts so far to provide the country with health and medical supplies.
The senator shared a 2017 article from Taiwan-based newspaper China Times about a meeting between Huang Wen Lei and Duterte in Davao.
“May ibang special friendship na naman ba? Kasi noong 2019 lang nag-incorporate ang Pharmally sa Pilipinas. Pero nang nagka-COVID noong 2020 ay sa Pharmally agad ibinigay ang pinakamalaking kontrata. Ito bang ugnayan na ito ang dahilan kung bakit napakabilis ng transaksyon ng Pharmally sa gitna ng pandemya?” Hontiveros added.
The English translation of the China Times article states: “Huang Wen Lei and entrepreneurial shareholder Wang Mingliang and other core executives visited the Philippines. Duterte made special arrangements.”
They all “met at the Davao Hall and invited the director of Drug Administration and the Deputy Minister of Health to attend the meeting.”
The article then said that the “closer cooperation between the two parties” would “create a win-win situation.”
In 2017, the director of the Food and Drug Administration was Nela Puno, whom President Duterte fired in 2019 for corruption allegations. Puno — along with the President, Huang Wen Lei, and Michael Yang — is also seen in the photograph that accompanied the China Times article.
Yang, chairman of the Philippine-based Full Win company, also has close links to another fugitive, Zheng Binqiang, the chairman of China-based Full Win Group.
Hontiveros said that while Duterte should still be given the benefit of the doubt, the meeting with the Pharmally boss certainly does not make him look good.
“That meeting includes a curious cast of characters. Masyado naman yatang malapit ang Pangulo sa mga taong may tagilid na track record sa serbisyo. Duterte supposedly has the best and the brightest on his side. Pero bakit parang malalamya ang katabi nya sa picture na ito? Wala na ba syang pakialam kung makita siya ng lahat na nakikisalamuha sa isang taong ‘wanted’?,” the senator said.
“Walang kailangang ikabahala ang mga kawani na nananatiling tapat sa serbisyo. Kung seryoso ang Pangulo na puksain ang korapsyon sa gobyerno, hayaan nyang gumulong ang proseso namin sa Senado. Huwag nyang gawing hobby na ipagtanggol ang Pharmally sa mga press briefings nya,” Hontiveros concluded.