Krizle Mago, an official of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., said Monday that she was only under pressure when she released the statement that her company had swindled or defrauded the government.
Mago said in a Senate hearing that his company swindled the government when it sold substandard medical supplies.
But when addressing the House, Mago said that she was only forced in the Senate, so she said they cheated or deceived the government.
“Regarding my previous statement that ‘I believed we swindled the government,’ it was a pressured response. Given the level of pressure I was under and the rush of emotions associated with the allegations and my subsequent admission, I was not in the best frame of mind to think clearly,” she said.
House Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta likened the Senate hearing on purchasing allegedly overpriced pandemic supplies to military interrogation.
According to Krizle Mago, the hearings became difficult for her, especially since she still has COVID-19.
Even former Procurement Service Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) head Lloyd Lao said he also felt pressure from senators.
“I feel that the environment in the Senate was hostile considering that the questions were being misleading and being shouted upon [sic],” said Lao.
Mago explained confusion in the product certificates because they repacked the face shields to remove the defects.
Pharmally exec Krizle Mago allegedly pressured so she dropped ‘swindling’ statement
Mago also contradicted the statement of Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ witness, who said that Pharmally provides expired face shields to the government.
According to Krizle Mago, they do not deliver the defective face shields.
It is also clear that non-medical grade face shields are the requirement of the Department of Health.
She also said that there is nothing wrong with their delivery of face shields before purchasing an order because there is a pandemic.
Krizle Mago said she could not understand why she was accused of lying.
On the other hand, the senators are worried about Mago’s reversal, but they said they would not budge.
Mago could be charged with perjury.
“Let us remember that Ms. Mago was under oath when she was speaking before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing. Questions were only directed to her, and she answered forthrightly,” said Hontiveros.
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