Pharmally execs should've been released in February, legal counsel insists

Pharmally executives Linconn Ong and Mohit Dargani should have been released from the Pasay City Jail as early as February and not on June 3, their legal counsel insisted.

In a text message shared with reporters Tuesday, Atty. Donn Rico Kapunan argued that Dargani and Ong should have been released after the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee  issued their partial committee report in February.

The lawyer raised this after Senate President Vicente Sotto III told reporters Monday that the Pharmally executives are set to be released on June 3, or the day of the sine die adjournment of the 18th Congress.

“I believe my clients Mohit Dargani & Linconn Ong should have been released sooner upon the Blue Ribbon's issuance of the committee report sometime in February this year, which was deliberately and purposely characterized as 'preliminary' in order to circumvent the Balag doctrine that resource persons cited in contempt must be released upon the issuance of a committee report," Kapunan argued.

"We feel that the committee chairman consciously came up with such [a] scheme to keep my clients in jail for as long as he could," he added.

Despite this, Kapunan said Dargani and Ong would come out of jail "with their heads high-- unbroken and unbowed."

"We will be ready to face whatever charges that may be filed in whatever forum in order to prove my clients' innocence against all the unfair accusations made before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which was unfortunately used simply as a platform for self-aggrandizement mainly by a reelectionist senator who lost miserably in the last elections," he added.

Dargani and Ong were detained at the Pasay City jail after they were cited in contempt for failing to produce documents related to the company's operations during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings on the government’s use of its coronavirus fund.

Ong had been under Senate custody since September 21, 2021 after he was cited in contempt for being "evasive" and "lying under oath."

Dargani, meanwhile, was arrested on November 14, 2021 as he tried to leave the country via a chartered plane at the Davao City International airport.

In another text message shared with reporters, Ong's legal counsel, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio thanked Sotto for announcing the impending release of the detained Pharmally executives, lauding the senator for adhering to the Supreme Court's jurisprudence that provided the guidelines on Congress' power of contempt.

Topacio also hoped for the resolution of their petitions which were pending before the High Court.

"It is our fervent prayer that notwithstanding the release of our clients, the Supreme Court resolve our two pending petitions before it in a manner that will further limit the scope of the powers of the Legislature, by striking a happy balance between preserving its prerogatives as a lawmaking body, and ensuring that the exercise of such will not outrun the bounds of reason and result in sheer oppression," Topacio said.

In April, Topacio said Dargani's petition questioning his continued detention over the alleged anomalies in the government's COVID-19 expenditures had been transferred to another division of the Court of Appeals (CA).

"In the final analysis, we are confident that should the matter reach the courts, then our clients will be fully vindicated in a forum where the rules are clear, and the sporting idea of fair play reigns supreme," he added.

Dargani and Ong, in several instances, tried to ask the Senate to release them from jail.

The latest was through a letter sent to Sotto, asking the latter to act on their "unjust" detention in the Pasay City jail and asserting that there were no cases filed against them.

Ong and Dargani both alleged that Sen. Dick Gordon used them for "his own political ambitions," adding that their lives and reputation were "robbed" by the senator.

But Gordon rebuffed their claims that they were detained simply because it was the liking of the committee, explaining that the Blue Ribbon panel "uses sparingly and rarely its powers to declare those who appear before it in contempt."

Gordon further explained that only violators of the rules of the committee are subject to contempt, particularly the act of lying before the committee, refusing to answer a valid question asked of witnesses, and refusing to bring the documents required to be submitted, among others.

Last year, Gordon led the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's inquiry into the transfer of P42 billion COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).

This included 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 P625,000 in paid-up capital when it entered into government transactions.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman's report previously recommended the filing of criminal charges against Ong, Dargani, and several government officials and individuals in connection with the alleged anomalous purchases of COVID-19 supplies. — DVM, GMA News