Comelec summons Pharmally exec on vote-buying charge

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued a subpoena against Pharmally executive and Quezon City congressional candidate Rose Nono Lin.

Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal of the Comelec Law Department said a complaint for vote buying was filed against Lin and 16 others.

The Comelec ordered the respondents to submit the digital or scanned copies of their notarized counter-affidavits on alleged violation of the Omnibus Election Code by May 16.

“You are hereby warned that failure to comply with the subpoena will be considered as waiver of your right to present your defense and the case will be considered submitted for resolution based on evidence on record,” the poll body said.

The respondents are facing 237 counts of vote buying filed by urban poor groups in Quezon City.

Gordon hit over campaign ads

Meanwhile, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio yesterday took a swipe at Sen. Richard Gordon for using the issue involving the executives of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. in his reelection bid.

Topacio was referring to Gordon’s campaign advertisement featuring the faces of Linconn Ong and Mohit Dargani, Pharmally director and secretary, respectively, who are portrayed as the “faces of graft and corruption.”

Topacio said his clients were detained by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee after they were cited in contempt during a hearing on allegedly overpriced medical supplies procured for the government’s COVID-19 response, but they are not facing any criminal complaint.

“I call out in the strongest terms the advertisement of Senator Gordon, which used photos of my clients. Under the Constitution, Ong and Dargani are presumed innocent and have the right to due process,” Topacio said on Twitter.

The Senate probe on the Pharmally controversy has ended. Topacio said Gordon is capitalizing on the continued detention of Ong and Dargani for his political ambition.

“My clients have been made to look guilty without the benefit of a court case, much less a trial. Gordon, in seeking to promote himself at the expense of my clients, exhibited conduct that is unbecoming of a lawyer and a senator. If only for this, he should be repudiated by the electorate,” Topacio said.

He called on Senate President Vicente Sotto III to ensure that the Senate and its members adhere to ethical standards and not use the chamber for their own political agenda.