Philippines gave US$173 million pandemic supplies contracts to a firm owned by a fugitive from Taipei. Senator asks: ‘Didn't you google?’

Senators are probing why the government awarded contracts for pandemic supplies to Pharmally Pharmaceutical, when its owner Huang Tzu Yen and father Huang Wen Lie were subject to international arrest warrants

An undersecretary says he had no time for ‘due diligence’ into the firm, which is accused of selling overpriced supplies, while some have questioned the firm’s links to President Duterte’s former adviser Michael Yang

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A mural reminding people to wear masks in Caloocan City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 2 Sep 2021Updated: 8:55pm, 2 Sep 2021

Senators in the Philippines are investigating how a drug company won government contracts worth billions of pesos to supply personal protective equipment, face masks and coronavirus tests despite its owner being wanted in Taiwan on suspicion of securities fraud.

The government awarded Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation multiple purchase orders worth a total of 8.7 billion-pesos (US$173 million) between March 2020 and July 2021.

The government continued to buy from Pharmally even after its owner Huang Tzu Yen was put under investigation by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in August 2020 and became the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the same office on December 29, 2020, along with his father Huang Wen Lie. The elder Huang – also known as Tony Huang – was chairman of the flagship Pharmally International Holding, which was listed at the Taipei stock exchange.

State records show that the government’s most recent purchases from Pharmally were in June and July of this year for 774 million pesos worth of fluorescent test kits at a cost of 45,550 pesos per unit; and for one billion pesos worth at 37,450 pesos per unit. These purchases were made even while both father and son were on the run.

“Why did we even deal with these shady individuals and companies?” asked opposition senator Risa Hontiveros of the Akbayan Party during a press conference on Wednesday.

Hontiveros said she was “astonished” and “dismayed” that Lloyd Christopher Lao, an undersecretary of the Department of Budget and Management in charge of the procurements, had admitted to the Senate that he skipped “due diligence” checks on the company because he was scrambling to secure supplies.