Wife of Pharmally exec pleads for his release

MANILA, Philippines — The wife of a detained executive of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. vowed the full cooperation of her husband with the Senate inquiry into the alleged multibillion-peso anomalies in the procurement of COVID-19 supplies by the Duterte administration.

In a letter to the Senate, Summer Ong, wife of Pharmally executive Linconn Ong, expressed her gratitude “for whatever consideration the senators are able and willing to provide” to have her husband released to help in the recovery of their two-year-old son, who was recently discharged from hospital, but has not yet fully recovered from dengue.

“I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Senate President Tito Sotto III and to Sen. Panfilo Lacson for the kind words and understanding of my fervent request on behalf of my son,” Ong said in a letter sent to senators yesterday.

“I also wish to thank Sen. Richard Gordon and the Blue Ribbon committee in advance for whatever consideration they are willing to provide for my husband Linconn Ong,” she added.

Gordon is chairman of the committee.

Ong reiterated her assurance that her husband, together with his family, is ready and will continue to face “whatever may come” with regard to the Pharmally issue.

Linconn, along with siblings Mohit and Twinkle Dargani, had been previously cited in contempt by the committee for refusing to cooperate and answer questions from senators on their alleged involvement in anomalies.

Pharmally bagged some P11 billion in contracts from the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management despite having only P625,000 in capital and no track record at all in supplying to the government.

Last week, Ong’s wife appealed to the Senate to free her husband for humanitarian reasons.

“You have forcibly taken my husband from me and our two-year old child especially in these times of uncertainty. I have tried these past many months to remain strong, to trust in the justice system of our country, in the hopes that my husband will be freed soonest. Linc has been imprisoned since September of 2021, and it has been more than five months, and every day I fear for his life and of course our future as a family,” she said.