Pharmally’s Dargani, Ong ask Senate panel to allow them house arrest

Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation officials Linconn Ong and Mohit Dargani have asked the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to grant their request for house arrest.

In two separate motions for house arrest, Ong and Dargani, through their counsels, asked for their immediate release from Pasay City jail on humanitarian grounds.

Ong is Pharmally's director while Dargani sits as the firm's corporate secretary and treasurer.

In his motion, Ong asserted that he already "suffered immensely" because of his incarceration at the Pasay City Jail for more than four months "without the benefit of a court trial."

Ong said his detention has already caused "unfathomable suffering" to him and his family, especially to his two-year-old son who had earlier suffered a freak injury which necessitated hospital confinement.

"It is in this light that Mr. Ong now pleads for mercy and compassion from the Honorable Members of this Committee to kindly allow him to be released forthwith and/or undergo house arrest for him to be able to be with his family," his motion read.

Ong vowed to attend all succeeding committee hearings.

For his part, Dargani also mentioned the "immeasurable suffering" his detention has brought on his family, particularly his mother, Deepa, and sister, Twinkle who, he said, were dealing with "physical, emotional, and psychological agony."

Twinkle is also Pharmally's president.

"To this undersigned counsel begs for this Honorable Committee's humanity and compassion not to allow any more suffering than necessary in the exercise of its immense powers," the motion read.

"Mohit now truly understands and recognizes the majesty of the Senate as a co-equal branch of the Government to which he sincerely apologizes for any misgivings he had brought about to the Committee," the motion further stated.

Mohit assured the Senate that he will not anymore engage in any actions that will be "deemed contumacious" by the committee and he will cooperate with the succeeding hearings.

In November, Ong and Dargani were turned over to Pasay City Jail after they refused to disclose the whereabouts  of the documents on the company's financial statements.

The Senate blue ribbon committee had investigated the transfer of P42 billion in COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).

This includes PS-DBM’s purchase of P8.6 billion worth of face masks, face shields, and PPEs from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, a firm that only had a P625,000 paid-up capital when it entered transactions with the government.

The Senate panel recently recommended the filing of criminal charges against Ong, Dargani and several government officials and individuals in connection with these purchases of COVID-19 supplies. — BM, GMA News