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Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Tuesday question Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Senator Richard Gordon’s conflict of interest in leading investigations against Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth), with his role as head of the Philippine Read Cross.

In a privilege speech, Go cited that Philippine Red Cross (PRC) headed by Gordon had a multi- million peso agreement with PhilHealth this COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hindi ba may conflict of interest na isa sa iniimbestigahan mo ay katransaksyon ng organisasyon na pinamumunuan mo?” he said.

“In the spirit of fairness and impartiality, shouldn’t the Blue Ribbon committee chair inhibit himself from further hearing all matter involving PhilHealth?” he said.

Go also criticized Gordon’s earlier statements about how PhilHealth should pay the PRC in advance for the RT-PCR testing of several health workers and other government employees.

“Hindi ba disadvantageous sa gobyerno at against the law ang paghingi ng advance payment?” he asked.

“Pinapagalitan mo, pati ako nadadamay bakit hindi nababayaran. Ako kasamahan mo sa gobyerno, papagalitan mo kami? Ano naman kinalaman ko?” he said.

Go stopped short of directly asking Gordon to inhibit from Blue Ribbon investigations involving the state insurer, saying they should “save that discussion for another forum.”

“I will not present any conclusions here without due process and fairness,” he said.

Go has been endorsed by ruling party PDP-Laban as its standard bearer for the 2022 elections, but he has declined. Gordon is, meanwhile, seen to be eyeing a fresh presidential bid.

Gordon responded to Go’s questions by pointing out that it was the Duterte administration who sought the PRC’s help at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

“Alam ninyo na nagsisilbi ang Red Cross. Hindi kami ang lumapit sa gobyerno. Ang gobyerno ang lumapit sa amin,” Gordon said.

Gordon dismissed Go’s rants against him as another attempt to distract the public from the Senate Blue Ribbon investigation into the alleged misuse of COVID-19 funds.

“Ito tangkang manglansi na naman ito. Titirahin ang Senado, titirahin ako,” Gordon said.

“This Blue Ribbon will not be distracted.”

The Blue Ribbon Committee recently presented a video showing President Rodrigo Duterte and Go welcoming Chinese businessman Michael Yang and Pharmally officials in Malacañang.

Last week, the Senate panel found that Pharmally— which bagged P6.8 billion in contracts from the  of Budget and Management (DBM)— has been using fake addresses in its incorporation documents.

The panel also found that the DBM’s Procurement Service bought allegedly overpriced face masks and RT-PCR test kits from the said corporation.