Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 16) — The wife of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. director Linconn Ong is appealing to the Senate to release her husband from the Pasay City Jail, where he has been detained since November 2021.
In a Feb. 14 letter addressed to Senator Richard Gordon, Summer Ong asked that her husband be freed “for humanitarian reasons.”
Gordon is the chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, which investigated the allegedly anomalous multi-billion deal between the government and Pharmally for the purchase of pandemic response supplies.
The wife said their two-year-old son is currently confined due to dengue.
“The Senate has forcibly taken my husband from me and our two-year-old child especially in these times of uncertainty,” read the letter, which was released to the media on Wednesday.
“I fervently appeal to you dear senators to please let my husband go. It is not only I who need him most now, but also our son who is suffering from dengue, who may I just mention is not doing too well and constantly looks for his father,” Mrs. Ong added.
The blue ribbon committee cited Linconn in contempt and ordered him arrested last September for evading questions during the probe into Pharmally. He was later transferred to the Pasay City Jail along with another company executive Mohit Dargani, over their failure to submit documents subpoenaed by lawmakers.
“As my lawyers have told me, upon the release of the full report of the Senate, my husband should have been released from his incarceration,” Mrs. Ong said. “However, Senator Gordon has deemed it necessary to keep him imprisoned even without a crime proven or a case filed by issuing a partial Senate report.”
Mrs. Ong also accused senators of “besmirching” the name of her husband and of Pharmally, as well as “placing the health and well-being of our family in jeopardy,” for political gain, as the May elections approach.
“I fear for my son’s life. I also fear for my husband constantly. This sadistic situation we have found ourselves in, we do not wish to be experienced by anyone, not even our worst enemies,” she added.
Should her husband be set free and “proper charges are filed,” Mrs. Ong said she guarantees that he will face the accusations.
Ong and Dargani have filed separate cases before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals questioning the legality of their detention.
Last month, the Senate allowed the release of Pharmally president Twinkle Dargani from its custody on the grounds of her “deteriorating mental health.
