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P12 B to Pharmally could have funded ayuda, meds, learning

P12 B to Pharmally could have funded ayuda, meds, learning

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Gotcha

photo from Philippine News Agency

GOTCHA

written on September 29, 2021

 

The poor pay the price of corruption. Pope Francis’ lament is evident in the Plunder During Pandemic that senators unearthed.

Pharmally Inc. cornered P12 billion in government medical supply procurements starting March 2020. Financier-guarantor was presidential Chinese friend and former economic adviser Michael Yang. It was only six months old, undercapitalized at P625,000, with no office, inventory, warehouse, delivery vehicles or import permit. Its surgical masks, face shields, personal protective equipment and COVID-19 test kits were the priciest. Still the Procurement Service-Dept. of Budget and Management favored it. The PS-DBM head, Atty. Lloyd Christopher Lao, was Duterte’s appointee, college fraternity-mate and former Davao City Hall lawyer. Nearly 400,000 test kits expired shortly after delivery. Production dates of the deteriorating face shields were tampered. Stocks in China falsely were certified as inspected to speed up payments to Pharmally. A shell, similarly with no cash, was formed in December 2020 to bag more deals till June 2021.

What’s the equivalent of P12 billion? Here’s what:

• At P4,000 each it is ayuda for 3 million penurious families.

• At P3,600 (overpriced) Sinovac double-jabs, it can vaccinate 3.33 million wage earners.

• At P5,000 a month on average, it is one year’s special risk allowance for 200,000 frontline doctors, nurses, orderlies, lab technicians, hospital janitors and security guards. The admin’s 2022 national budget has no SRA for them.

• At P6,000 per smartphone, it can boost online learning for two million students.

• At P120,000 each, it can buy 100,000 silent, smokeless electric tricycles.

• At P200,000 each, it can build homes for 60,000 squatter families.

• At P500,000 each, it can build and furnish 24,000 additional classrooms to safely distance schoolchildren.

• At P1.2 million each, it can buy 10,000 electric jeepneys.

• At P2.4 billion each, it can build five 200-bed hospitals.

• It is more than enough to replicate in 2022 this year’s P1.786 billion for soldiers’ hospitalization and military hospital equipment. The admin’s budget for that next year is zero.

• At P18 each, it can procure 666.7 million kilos of palay from farmers.

But only Pharmally’s Chinese and Filipino cohorts benefited from the P12 billion. They bought Lamborghinis, Porsches and luxury condos.

The poor starved as Malacañang said there was no more money for ayuda. Twenty-seven million lost their livelihoods. Water and electric utilities were cut off, and they were evicted for unpaid dwelling rent.

Frontline health care workers, policemen and soldiers were infected and died from lack of pandemic protection. The neediest suffered the consequences.

*      *      *

The closing of Fr. Arnel Aquino’s homily last Sunday on Radyo Katipunan:

“God has a universal salvific will. But rich liars and thieves make it so difficult for me to imagine God saving them. This speaks more about me than of God. I confess just the same: I find it easier to imagine kind-hearted and honest atheists going to heaven, than for self-professed believers who enrich themselves while people line up for free food and medicine, a decent cremation, burial.

“Paano po n’yo nahaharap ang Diyos pagkatapos ng bawa’t araw ng patung-patong na kasinungalingan? I feel like asking the you-know-whos: Kapag nagkukurus po kayo ng sarili, tapos nagdarasal ng Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, para po saan? ‘Yung rosary pong ipupulupot ninyo sa rearview mirror ng bago n’yong Ferrari, o si Lamborghini na pababasbasan n’yo kay pader, anong kinalaman niyan sa Diyos?…

“Diyos na rin po ang nagsabi: ‘If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Better to live maimed, than with two hands go into unquenchable fire. If your foot causes you to sin, or your eye, cut it off, gouge it out. Better to live crippled, blind in one eye today, than with everything intact, be thrown into Gehenna, where worm does not die, nor fire quenched.’ Hindi po kayo natatakot? Kung ‘di po kayo takot sa libu-libong nahihirapan dahil sa pagnanakaw ninyo, ‘di po ba kayo natatakot sa Diyos, sa sinasabi Niya sa Gospel ngayon tungkol sa por-eber?

“Tawag lang po kayong mga kinauukulan. Marami po kami ritong handang tumulong sa inyong pagbabalik-loob. All of us who say mass here can accompany you back to God; we, who are sinners, too. But you should be willing to part with what you stole, to give it back, to free yourselves from its curse. It’s not too late. There is still a right and just way out of this hell.”

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Pharmally facemasks 54% costlier; P550 M wasted in expired test kits

Pharmally facemasks 54% costlier; P550 M wasted in expired test kits

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Gotcha

stock image of facemasks, and Pharmally logo

GOTCHA

written on September 24, 2021

 

Presidential Chinese pal Michael Yang’s Pharmally Inc. sold to the government surgical masks 54-percent costlier than base price. It also supplied P550 million worth of COVID-19 test kits that expired shortly after delivery. The two findings by senators Tuesday controverted President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated defense of his admin’s dealings with the shop of his former special economic adviser. He has been asserting in taped telecasts that Pharmally delivered pandemic gear on time at no overprice.

Receipts showed that Pharmally was the third middleman in the supply of 500,000 masks on Mar. 25, 2020. “There was deceit,” Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon said. Being only six months old with no inventory, Pharmally sourced the masks from Chinese-owned Tigerphil Marketing at P23.90 each. Tigerphil in turn got them from Greentrends Trading International at P18, or P9 million total. Pharmally peddled the stocks to the Procurement Service-Dept. of Budget and Management at P27.72 apiece, totalling P13,860,000.

None of the three was a maker of masks. Had PS-DBM skirted the middlemen, it could have saved 54 percent and not overpaid nearly P5 million. Gordon said then-PS-DBM Director Lloyd Christopher Lao should not have dealt with Pharmally. A law school fraternity-mate, Lao was Duterte’s appointee.

The 500,000 masks were the first of 10 Pharmally transactions amounting to P12 billion. Senator Francis Pangilinan asked Lao why the request for quotation set a price ceiling of P28 per mask. The P28 tag was the Dept. of Health’s suggested retail price. The wholesale rate should have been much lower.

An earlier hearing bared that Filipino-owned EMS Components Assembly offered only P13.50. But that was only in June 2020, after it heard about the huge procurements.

In previous hearings, a 2017 Malacañang video was replayed of Yang presenting Pharmally executives to Duterte. Yang claimed his role in the PS-DBM deals was only to introduce Pharmally to suppliers in China. But Pharmally’s Singaporean chairman Huang Tzu Yen and Filipino director Linconn Ong swore that Yang lent them large cash and served as guarantor.

Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier bared that Pharmally sold two million sets of personal protective equipment at 66-percent mark-up. The firm bought the PPEs from China at P1,150 per set then sold it to PS-DBM at P1,910. It profited P1.5 billion from the P3.82 billion bonanza.

Pangilinan last Tuesday presented documents on PS-DBM procurements of P550 million worth of test kits. The DOH specified test kits with expiration of 24-36 months. But PS-DBM accepted Pharmally deliveries expiring in less than six months. A memo from DOH Assistant Secretary Nelson Santiago requested Lao to reschedule deliveries. That was to “prevent the repeat of the past scenario where a large number of stored kits expired.”

“This is like we are burning cash amid the many deaths,” Pangilinan remarked. “DOH was requesting a rescheduling of the delivery of Pharmally test kits because the ones that were delivered expired and were not used.”

The Senate inquiry began with the question of why DOH relinquished to PS-DBM P42 billion in medical procurements. The Commission on Audit had flagged the DOH for lack of a covering memorandum. PS-DBM procures for government agencies common-use supplies like paper, pens, trash cans and toiletries. Pandemic paraphernalia are the purview of DOH’s internal bids and awards committee.

The PS-DBM initially was grilled on its technical capability to handle medical supplies. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was asked who ordered him to transfer the emergency purchasing to another department.

PS-DBM continued to buy from Pharmally till mid-2021, Senator Risa Hontiveros noted. That was despite information online that Pharmally chairman Huang and his founder-father are wanted by Taiwan authorities for embezzlement and stock fraud.

Gordon criticized Duterte for lawyering in his telecasts for Pharmally and Yang. Retorting on Wednesday, the President reiterated that Duque only followed his order to bring in the pandemic supplies at once. Distancing himself from Yang and Pharmally, he said, “The senators can quash all of these traders for all I care.”

*      *      *

“Pray to the Lord, and He will hear you. He will save you from all your troubles. The Lord is close to those who have suffered disappointment. He saves those who are discouraged. Good people might have many problems, but the Lord will take them all away. He will protect them completely. Not one of their bones will be broken.” Psalm 34:17-20

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Marcos stifled state auditors, dissenting lawmakers

Marcos stifled state auditors, dissenting lawmakers

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Gotcha

Photo from Wikipedia

GOTCHA

written on September 22, 2021

 

Picture yourself waking up one morning and there’s no Youtube, Facebook or TikTok. Your WiFi and mobile won’t connect. After hours of fidgetting with your gadgets, you find out that your neighbors too have no signal. One of them arrives from night shift and narrates what he saw in the streets. Soldiers in full battle gear have set up checkpoints with machineguns and tanks. Civilians are made to alight from vehicles and frisked. Long hair of males and miniskirt hems of females are scissored there and then. Resisters are slapped, handcuffed and bundled off in cage vans. To where, nobody knows. Stay indoors, you advise each other, though unsure if that’s even safe. Fear sets in with the eerie realization that you’re cut off from the rest of the world.

Ferdinand Marcos in fact employed those shock tactics on Sep. 23, 1972. Filipinos awoke to dead radios, television and phones. No newspapers either. The unsuspecting who went about their usual ways were brutalized in the streets. Crack troops trained to fight communist and separatist rebels were deployed to the cities for maximum effect. Marcos schemed for a year to illegally extend his tenure via martial law, the opposition had warned. Nobody expected it to be that savage.

Only two days later did Marcos announce the martial law signing as of Sept. 21. He had padlocked Congress, all media outlets and selected civilian offices. Opposition lawmakers were arrested, along with labor and peasant leaders, civil rights lawyers, priests, professors and student activists. All were tagged as “conspiring with communists to burn the city of Manila.” Marcos proclaimed that he was going to save society. In the following years thousands were abducted, detained without charges, tortured, raped and murdered.

Today’s would-be authoritarians imitate Marcos’ playbook. Marcos alibied that the perennial deadlock between Malacañang and Congress forced him to abolish the latter. He also abolished the vice presidency because he was his own successor. For thought control, he confiscated ABS-CBN and gave it to a crony and government appointee. He assigned that same fraternity-mate to publish a state-controlled daily. Two other newspapers subsequently opened, one by Marcos’ brother-in-law, the other by his aide-de-camp.

Intolerant of state auditors, Marcos stripped them of independence and put them under his command. He packed the Comelec with his supporters and designated as chairman a partymate who lost in the previous senatorial election. The bureaucracy was made to swear by Marcos’ New Society or else be dismissed. He filled the Supreme Court as well with law school classmates. To make the message sink in, the Chief Justice was assigned to carry the First Lady’s parasol.

Having stifled dissent and established control of national and local governments, Marcos proceeded to the next stage of one-man rule. He parceled off to cronies the major industries: sugar, coconut, oil, mining, shipping, airlines, telecoms, construction. He borrowed left and right in the name of the government for crony businesses. Together with them, his conjugal dictatorship plundered the economy of $30 billion.

Authoritarianism can recur if citizens let down their guard. Democracy is a system that needs constant improving and protecting.

(Tune in to the four-day webinar, “Essential Truths on the Martial Law Years,” Sep. 21-24, 2021, 3-5 p.m. HRVVMC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hrvvmemcom. Guest lecturers include former Historical Commission chief Dr. Ma. Serena Diokno, former Human Rights’ Victims Claims Board Atty. Byron Bocar, torture victims and freedom fighters.)

*      *      *

Yellow-ribbon tagging of COVID-19 infectees’ houses is dangerous. It will stigmatize them at a time when they need help the most. Such insensitive brute-force treatment is no different from cussing and ordering “shoot-on-sight” of non-vaccinees when there are hardly any doses available.

The better approach is one with heart. Barangay officials must determine what the quarantined infectees need. With charitable volunteers, they can then quietly deliver hot meals, fresh fruits, water, medicines, vitamins, soap, disinfectant, face masks, disposable diapers, trash bags and other basics.

Let the spirit of sharing reign. Emulate the community pantries, where neighbors gave what they could and took only what they needed.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Will VP candidate Duterte bare SALN, state of health?

Will VP candidate Duterte bare SALN, state of health?

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of President Rodrigo Duterte

GOTCHA

written on September 17, 2021

 

Rodrigo Duterte accepted last week his party’s vice presidential draft for Election 2022. In effect he opened himself to voter scrutiny.

As president, Duterte evades two basic disclosures. First, the yearly sworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Second, his true state of health.

Further evasion can become an election issue. Filipinos expect candidates to be upfront. SALNs and physical-mental clearances thus are voluntarily publicized. Candidate Duterte will have to follow suit.

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear. Witholding wealth and health records, while other VP contenders disclose theirs, will invite derision for Duterte. Bluster and cussing in televised pandemic updates won’t suffice. His spokesman and chief legal counsel cannot obfuscate for him as usual. Running in his senatorial ticket, they will be busy explaining their own financial and psychiatric makeups.

The Constitution requires SALNs. Procedures are in the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. Filers must waive bank secrecy for tax examination.

Duterte last disclosed a SALN for 2017. He keeps confidential his SALNs for 2018, 2019 and 2020. He is the only president in 30 years to refuse SALN publicity. He breaks his own Freedom of Information orders on the Executive branch.

Early this month Ombudsman Samuel Martires rejected the request of Senator Leila de Lima for copies of Duterte’s SALNs. Duterte found that as a new excuse to continue witholding the documents.

But Martires is just one citizen. The desire for transparency of 62 million voters far outweighs his opinion. Duterte will be hard put to resist.

Duterte’s health status will be a valid issue too. He will turn 77 before Election Day. Every time he wobbles on stage and with slurred speech, voters will ask if he can still hurdle a six-year tenure.

Duterte admits to be diagnosed with Buerger’s disease and Barrett’s esophagus. Also, to suffering migraine and back pains from a motorcycling accident. He is on a cocktail of medications and painkillers. Voters will want to know if those destabilize his physique, emotions and mental faculties.

Rodrigo Duterte accepted last week his party’s vice presidential draft for Election 2022. In effect he opened himself to voter scrutiny.

As president, Duterte evades two basic disclosures. First, the yearly sworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Second, his true state of health.

Further evasion can become an election issue. Filipinos expect candidates to be upfront. SALNs and physical-mental clearances thus are voluntarily publicized. Candidate Duterte will have to follow suit.

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear. Witholding wealth and health records, while other VP contenders disclose theirs, will invite derision for Duterte. Bluster and cussing in televised pandemic updates won’t suffice. His spokesman and chief legal counsel cannot obfuscate for him as usual. Running in his senatorial ticket, they will be busy explaining their own financial and psychiatric makeups.

The Constitution requires SALNs. Procedures are in the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. Filers must waive bank secrecy for tax examination.

Duterte last disclosed a SALN for 2017. He keeps confidential his SALNs for 2018, 2019 and 2020. He is the only president in 30 years to refuse SALN publicity. He breaks his own Freedom of Information orders on the Executive branch.

Early this month Ombudsman Samuel Martires rejected the request of Senator Leila de Lima for copies of Duterte’s SALNs. Duterte found that as a new excuse to continue witholding the documents.

But Martires is just one citizen. The desire for transparency of 62 million voters far outweighs his opinion. Duterte will be hard put to resist.

Duterte’s health status will be a valid issue too. He will turn 77 before Election Day. Every time he wobbles on stage and with slurred speech, voters will ask if he can still hurdle a six-year tenure.

Duterte admits to be diagnosed with Buerger’s disease and Barrett’s esophagus. Also, to suffering migraine and back pains from a motorcycling accident. He is on a cocktail of medications and painkillers. Voters will want to know if those destabilize his physique, emotions and mental faculties.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Senators suspect ghost deliveries by influence-peddling Pharmally

Senators suspect ghost deliveries by influence-peddling Pharmally

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Gotcha

logo of Pharmally

GOTCHA

written on September 15, 2021

 

Pharmally Inc. of presidential Chinese friend Michael Yang was an influence peddler. “Laway lang ang puhunan,” investigating senators said. Yang, President Duterte’s special economic adviser, pulled political strings. Pharmally acted as go-between of Chinese traders and the admin’s Procurement Service-Dept. of Budget and Management. It cornered P12 billion in sales to the government of pricey pandemic gear.

In one deal alone of seven in 2020, Pharmally profited P1.5 billion. Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed records. It sold two million sets of personal protective equipment (PPEs) at P1,910 each. The supplier in China was paid P1,150, for 66-percent mark-up of P760 per set.

“We need to scrutinize if the government and taxpayers were defrauded,” Lacson said. “Our children and their children will be repaying the loans for the PS-DBM purchases. Was the people’s money properly spent?”

Despite financial-technical incapacity, Pharmally was the favorite. Goods were paid for even before delivery, Senator Francis Pangilinan said. Pharmally then used the cash bonanza to buy the contracted supplies. The Chinese suppliers were not manufacturers but mere traders. Filipino makers and dealers of medical gear repeatedly were elbowed out, as no public biddings were announced and held.

From puny cash capital of P625,000 Pharmally grossed 19,000 times its worth. The P12-billion windfall surfaced at Monday’s hearing of the Blue Ribbon committee. Earlier hearings had fleshed out only P8.7 billion, then P10 billion.

Pharmally’s first deal was on March 25, 2020, a week into the government’s Luzon-wide lockdown. It was only six months old, with no office, experience, inventory, import permit, letter of credit or bank guarantee.

Circumstances showed irregularities, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said. PS-DBM emailed Pharmally at 2:24 p.m. seeking price quotation on 500,000 pieces surgical masks, not to exceed P28 apiece and budget of P8 million.

Three hours later, 5:11 p.m., Pharmally delivered the truckloads of stocks, employee Krizle Mago claimed at the Senate. “Like ordering a sandwich by Grab Delivery!” Blue-Ribbon chairman Richard Gordon remarked.

It did not matter to Pharmally that the request was only for a quotation. Meaning, that the PS-DBM email presumably was sent to other sellers who might quote lower prices and thus bag the deal.

Nor did it matter that the PS-DBM figures were defective: 500,000 multiplied by P28 was P14 million, not the stated P8-million ceiling. Such lapse would have spurred further inquiries from email recipients. PS-DBM should have corrected itself for clarity and legality. At 1:19 p.m. the next day, March 26, Pharmally emailed its price quotation: P27.72 x 500,000 = P13,860,000.

Only on April 6 did PS-DBM email a purchase order. On April 15 Pharmally collected the amount, minus five-percent VAT and one-percent warranty retention. In a report by the Commission on Audit, the PS-DBM purchase order was issued April 16, the day after payment to Pharmally.

Drilon suspected ghost delivery. Pharmally director Linconn Ong claimed to have arranged the speedy trucking from Tiger Philippines Inc. He refused to reveal the acquisition price and stammered that he knew the Chinese owner and longtime friend only as “Brother Tiger.”

PS-DBM head Lloyd Christopher Lao swore to have been surprised with the delivery but deduced that it was Pharmally’s way of impressing them of its capability. Supposedly he did not accept nor pay the stocks at once.

In a recent telecast Duterte said Lao, a college fraternity-mate, provided legal services to Davao City Hall during his 22-year mayoralty. In 2016-2021 he appointed him to three successive Malacañang positions “out of utang na loob” (debt of gratitude). Duterte added that he met Yang 20 years ago doing business in Davao.

PS-DBM inspection reports were signed even before supply deliveries. Inspection chief Jorge Mendoza admitted doing so twice, under questioning by Pangilinan. PPEs from China had yet to arrive in Manila but higher-ups ordered them to certify the merchandise. Assistant Mervin Tanquintic confirmed the anomaly. PS-DBM accountants allegedly made them sign without seeing the goods to speed up payment to the Chinese.

Of the P12-billion sales, Pharmally filed only P10 billion in its 2020 income tax return. Suspecting tax evasion, Senator Imee Marcos requested records from the Bureaus of Customs and of Internal Revenue.

Unfamiliar with medical supplies, Pharmally’s deliveries were faulty. Test kits arrived unusable because the swabbing and extraction accessories arrived two months later, Pangilinan said. At that time frontline health care workers were getting infected and dying due to lack of test kits and substandard PPEs.

Drilon sought subpoena of PS-DBM and other agency files on four Pharmally deals:

• 41,400 RT-PCR test kits, at P69,500 each, for P2,877,300,000;

• 17,000 RT-PCR test kits, at P45,550 each, for P774,350,000;

• Three million N95 face masks, P100 each, for P300,000,000; and

• 312 DNA/RNA extraction kits, P787,968 each, for P245,846,016.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Official party nomination makes Duterte fair game

Official party nomination makes Duterte fair game

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Gotcha

Wikipedia photo of a crocodile

GOTCHA

written on September 10, 2021

 

Photos of crocodiles that circulated online Wednesday were hair-raising. Online Wednesday were hair-raising. Captions stated that a faction of the ruling PDP-Laban convened swamp-side in Pampanga. Proclaimed was a Go-Duterte presidential-VP tandem for Election 2022. At once netizens peppered the event website with a differently punctuated post: “Go, Duterte, go away.”

A blog quoted President Duterte as “overwhelmed and feeling like crying” at his VP nomination. Readers reacted that crocodile tears are insincere expressions of remorse or sorrow.

The official party endorsement made Duterte fair game.

Rage was palpable. So reviled was Duterte’s repeated justification of his admin’s purchase of pricey pandemic paraphernalia from a Chinese trader-friend. There was no public bidding for the P10-billion deal, senators have exposed.

That foreigner is a presidential economic adviser. His Pharmally Corp. was only eight months old; undercapitalized at P625,000; with no office, experience and import permit when granted 16,000 times its worth in May 2020. Two partners were figutives wanted in Taiwan for embezzlement and stock fraud.

The Duterte-appointed purchasing officer allegedly eased Filipino suppliers out of the government transaction. A Philippine Air Force plane had to fetch the private cargo from China, Senator Panfilo Lacson said, although the National Task Force Against COVID-19 head denied it.

Nearly 35,000 have died of COVID-19, 151,000 infectees are suffering in hospitals and homes and last year 27 million lost livelihoods. Yet certain admin officials and pals apparently profited from the health crisis.

Netizens labeled as “diversionary” Duterte’s ad hominem attacks against the investigating senators. The President insulted Lacson’s hair and Richard Gordon’s girth, like his past references to Manila Mayor Isko Moreno’s briefs and law dean-critic Chel Diokno’s teeth. Along with Senator Imee Marcos, Duterte alleged, they are all just politicking since election time is near. Bloggers found “shallow” his alibi to unconstitutionally run for VP – that is, to be able to advise and help the next admin if needed. He can do that even if out of office, they riposted.

Rediscovered and shared was the court’s mental health assessment in 1998 in annulling Duterte’s marriage. As reported in The Independent of London, he had “antisocial narcissistic personality disorder.” In addition, “gross indifference, insensitivity and self-centeredness.” Also, “grandiose sense of self-entitlement and manipulative behaviours.” Plus, “pervasive tendency to demean, humiliate others and violate their rights and feelings,” and “unable to reflect on the consequences of his actions.” More: “unhealthy and destructive behaviors,” “poor capacity for objective judgment, “[failing to] see things in the light of facts.” In conclusion, “psychologically incapacitated… due to inability for loyalty and commitment [and] lack of capacity for remorse and guilt.”

On the sidelines, Duterte’s spokesman mimicked him in demeaning outsiders. At the meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, he cut off and yelled at two private doctors who were presenting situationers. The IATF had invited the two as convenors of 54 medical societies under Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19.

The societies represent half a million physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses. Days prior, HPAAC proposed four actions: digitized, interconnected contact tracing; linking local governments and hospitals with the One Hospital Command Center; safety of Filipino workers and release of health care workers’ benefits and allowances.

At the IATF, the two HPAAC convenor-doctors reiterated that they didn’t wish to be misconstrued as picking a fight. Fatigue was setting in and can overwhelm hospitals, they worried. Whereupon, the spokesman argued why doctors thought they were the only ones tired when government officials too needed to catch some sleep.

The spokesman also belittled as political gimmickry Mayor Moreno’s request to increase procurements of COVID-19 medicines instead of face shields. The World Health Organization does not even prescribe face shields, from which Pharmally profited nearly P300 million. That was too close for comfort for the defensive spokesman who, incidentally, is politicking for senator in 2022.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

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Safeguarding and Securing the Data

jariusbondoc.com is committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. jariusbondoc.com has done all in its power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us safeguard all the information we collect online.

 

Our Cookie Policy

Once you agree to allow our website to use cookies, you also agree to use the data it collects regarding your online behavior (analyze web traffic, web pages you spend the most time on, and websites you visit).

The data we collect by using cookies is used to customize our website to your needs. After we use the data for statistical analysis, the data is completely removed from our systems.

Please note that cookies don’t allow us to gain control of your computer in any way. They are strictly used to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not so that we can provide a better experience for you.

If you want to disable cookies, you can do it by accessing the settings of your internet browser.

 

Links to Other Websites

Our website contains links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links jariusbondoc.com is not held responsible for your data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

 

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data

At some point, you might wish to restrict the use and collection of your personal data. You can achieve this by doing the following:

 

  • When you are filling the forms on the website, make sure to check if there is a box which you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.
  • If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email and we will be more than happy to change this for you.

 

jariusbondoc.com will not lease, sell or distribute your personal information to any third parties, unless we have your permission. We might do so if the law forces us. Your personal information will be used when we need to send you promotional materials if you agree to this privacy policy.

 

II. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All materials contained on this site are protected by the Republic of the Phlippines copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of jariusbondoc.com or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

However, you may download material from jariusbondoc.com on the Web (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.

If you wish to use jariusbondoc.com content for commercial purposes, such as for content syndication etc., please contact us at jariusbondoconline@gmail.com.

Links to Websites other than those owned by jariusbondoc.com are offered as a service to readers. The editorial staff of jariusbondoc.com was not involved in their production and is not responsible for their content.

 

III. TERMS OF SERVICE

 

  1. GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS

 

1.1 If you choose to use the jariusbondoc.com service (the “Service”), you will be agreeing to abide by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement between you and jariusbondoc.com (“jariusbondoc.com “).

 

1.2 jariusbondoc.com may change, add or remove portions of this Agreement at any time, but if it does so, it will post such changes on the Service, or send them to you via e-mail. It is your responsibility to review this Agreement prior to each use of the Site and by continuing to use this Site, you agree to any changes.

 

1.3 If any of these rules or any future changes are unacceptable to you, you may cancel your membership by sending e-mail to jariusbondoconline.com (see section 10.1 regarding termination of service). Your continued use of the service now, or following the posting of notice of any changes in these operating rules, will indicate acceptance by you of such rules, changes, or modifications.

 

1.4 jariusbondoc.com may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any Service feature, database, or content. jariusbondoc.com may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Service without notice or liability.

 

  1. JARIUSBONDOC.COM CONTENT AND MEMBER SUBMISSIONS

 

2.1 The contents of the jariusbondoc.com are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. All materials published on jariusbondoc.com (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as the “Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by jariusbondoc.com or the party credited as the provider of the Content. You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Service.

 

2.2 The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to the Republic of the Philippines and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of this Agreement), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.

 

2.3 You may download or copy the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the Service for personal use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from jariusbondoc.com or the copyright holder identified in the copyright notice contained in the Content.

 

  1. FORUMS, DISCUSSIONS AND USER GENERATED CONTENT

 

3.1 You shall not upload to, or distribute or otherwise publish on the message boards (the “Feedback Section”) any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material.

 

3.2 (a)Be courteous. You agree that you will not threaten or verbally abuse jariusbondoc.com columnists and other jariusbondoc.com community Members, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or “spam.”

 

3.2 (b) Use respectful language. Like any community, the Feedback Sections will flourish only when our Members feel welcome and safe. You agree not to use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, etc. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

 

3.2 (c) Debate, but don’t attack. In a community full of opinions and preferences, people always disagree. jariusbondoc.com encourages active discussions and welcomes heated debate in our Feedback Sections. But personal attacks are a direct violation of this Agreement and are grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

 

3.3 The Feedback Sections shall be used only in a noncommercial manner. You shall not, without the express approval of jariusbondoc.com, distribute or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services.

 

3.4 You are solely responsible for the content of your messages. However, while jariusbondoc.com does not and cannot review every message posted by you on the Forums and is not responsible for the content of these messages, jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to delete, move, or edit messages that it, in its sole discretion, deems abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable.

 

3.5 You acknowledge that any submissions you make to the Service (i.e., user-generated content including but not limited to: text, video, audio and photographs) (each, a “Submission”) may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by jariusbondoc.com and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. You grant jariusbondoc.com a perpetual, nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty free, sub-licensable license to the Submissions, which includes without limitation the right for jariusbondoc.com or any third party it designates, to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning or other technologies) in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed, any Submission posted by you on or to jariusbondoc.com or any other website owned by it, including any Submission posted on jariusbondoc.com through a third party.

 

3.6 By submitting an entry to jariusbondoc.com’s Readers’ Corner, you are consenting to its display on the site and for related online and offline promotional uses.

 

  1. ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE AND LINKS

 

4.1 jariusbondoc.com contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites, resources, and sponsors of jariusbondoc.com. Since jariusbondoc.com is not responsible for the availability of these outside resources, or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to the site administrator or Webmaster of such site.

 

  1. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

 

5.1 You represent, warrant and covenant (a) that no materials of any kind submitted through your account will (i) violate, plagiarize, or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy or other personal or proprietary rights; or (ii) contain libelous or otherwise unlawful material; and (b) that you are at least thirteen years old. You hereby indemnify, defend and hold harmless jariusbondoc.com, and all officers, directors, owners, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you or any user of your account of this Agreement or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any such claim. jariusbondoc.com reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

 

5.2 jariusbondoc.com does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed, uploaded, or distributed through the Service by any user, information provider or any other person or entity. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any such opinion, advice, statement, memorandum, or information shall be at your sole risk. THE SERVICE AND ALL DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE ARE DISTRIBUTED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

 

  1. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN JARIUSBONDOC.COM AND MEMBERS

 

6.1 If you indicate on your registration form that you want to receive such information, jariusbondoc.com, its owners and assigns, will allow certain third party vendors to provide you with information about products and services.

 

6.2 jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to send electronic mail to you for the purpose of informing you of changes or additions to the Service.

 

6.3 jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to disclose information about your usage and demographics, provided that it will not reveal your personal identity in connection with the disclosure of such information. Advertisers and/or Licensees on our Web site may collect and share information about you only if you indicate your acceptance. For more information please read the Privacy Policy of jariusbondoc.com.

 

6.4 jariusbondoc.com may contact you via e-mail regarding your participation in user surveys, asking for feedback on the Website and existing or prospective products and services. This information will be used to improve our Website and better understand our users, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

 

  1. TERMINATION

 

 

7.1 jariusbondoc.com may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Service for any reason, including, without limitation, breach or assignment of this Agreement.

 

  1. MISCELLANEOUS

 

8.1 This Agreement has been made in and shall be construed and enforced in accordance with the Republic of the Philippines law. Any action to enforce this agreement shall be brought in the courts located in Manila, Philippines.

 

8.2 Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in this Terms of Service will serve to preempt the promises made in jariusbondoc.com Privacy Policy.

 

8.3 Correspondence should be sent to jariusbondoconline.com.

 

8.4 You agree to report any copyright violations of the Terms of Service to jariusbondoc.com as soon as you become aware of them. In the event you have a claim of copyright infringement with respect to material that is contained in the jariusbondoc.com service, please notify jariusbondoconline.com. This Terms of Service was last updated on November 7, 2020.