Pharma firm head assures probe cooperation
PHARMALLY Pharmaceutical president Huang Tzu Yen assured the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that they will cooperate on the investigation into the alleged overpriced medical equipment procured by the government in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the continuation of the Senate hearing, Huang said they will focus on four items, namely: concern of high price; how they did the transactions; is the company favored; and concerns of his personal records.
“Pharmally Pharmaceutical would like to point out that, in these transactions, the capacity of the corporation is only in the role of a bidder, or, a seller in lame man’s term. Pharmally Pharmaceutical is a business entity just like any shops or store anywhere. What the company attempts to do, as a business, is to offer its best price. So that we can attract customers,” Huang said.
“In the case of these government contracts, Pharmally Pharmaceutical offered its BEST price to the procurement entity and hopes to win these businesses,” he added.
Huang explained that what really determines the price is the simple “Law of Supply and Demand,”adding that when the demand for anything is high and supply is low, the price goes up.
At the same time, Huang said Pharmally Pharmaceutical has never denied that it’s a small start up and this is clearly reflected in any documents submitted at any stage during the process.
“We wish to highlight that the company has always been compliant with any requirements submitted to us. If not, the company would not have been awarded or even allowed to collect its payments after. We wish to highlight that Pharmally Pharmaceutical did not win billions of contracts with that P27.72 worth of masks,” explained.
“That contract worth P13.9 million was only but ONE of the contracts that we bidded, which was awarded, that we successfully delivered, and ONLY rightfully compensated AFTER. There was never an instant of a single Peso worth of advance payment to us first,” Huang added.
On the allegation that the company is favored by the Procurement Entity, Huang said Pharmally Pharmaceutical is just like any business that sometimes they win the business, and the customers purchase, sometimes they don’t and they go elsewhere.
“Pharmally pharmaceuticals do not always win. There have been 12 instances where the company bided, and we lost. These are all of public record. The company does not really have that 100% success story that some would want you to think,”he explained.
Meanwhile, on the allegation regarding his personal history, Huang reiterated that the entity involved is Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
“In the eyes of law, a business is treated as an independent entity, separate from its officers and shareholders. Any contractual obligation is solely related to the company. Let the record reflect that Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation has never been blacklisted by any relevant authority because the company has always complied with its contractual obligations. With regards to the news surrounding my history, if it pleases this committee and would like to understand further, I would be open to share more details on this,” he stressed.
