From Pharmally to POGOs

OF the nine senators who signed the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee report on what is now known as the Pharmally scam, four were neither close allies nor vocal critics of former president Rodrigo Duterte. They were Panfilo Lacson, Koko Pimentel, Manny Pacquiao and now-Finance Secretary Ralph Recto. Unfortunately, the report lacked the two votes needed to move it from the committee for a plenary vote. The 18th Congress ended on June 1, 2022, without a proper closure to what was often referred to as the "scam of the century." Due, perhaps, to the scale of the money involved — more than P47 billion in public money — with most of it squandered.

What pushed the four Duterte-agnostic senators to sign the report, which recommended the filing of plunder, graft, perjury and many other serious charges against Duterte-era public officials and private individuals involved in the scam? And the filing of charges against Mr. Duterte soon after his term ended on June 30, 2022?