Pharmally execs’ kin sue Senate leaders

MANILA, Philippines — The families of three executives of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. have filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) against the Senate leadership for allegedly violating their human rights over their continued detention.

The complaint, which was addressed to acting CHR chairperson Leah Tanodra-Armamento, was signed by Deepa Chainani, mother of Mohit and Twinkle Dargani, and Summer Ong, wife of Linconn Ong.

Linconn and Mohit are Pharmally director and secretary, respectively.

Linconn was detained on orders of Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Sept. 10, 2021. Mohit was arrested and placed in the Senate’s custody on Nov. 21 last year.

The two are still being held at the Pasay City jail for contempt by stonewalling during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee’s investigation into the allegedly anomalous procurement of medical supplies as part of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We wish to bring to your attention the violations of human rights committed by the Senate against the Darganis and Linconn,” the letter read.

Aside from their continued detention, the Senate sergeant-at-arms allegedly restricted them access to legal counsel and deprived Twinkle of medical attention.

The families sought the help of the CHR to address these issues.

The lawyers of the Pharmally executives earlier accused Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, of using the issue as a campaign tool for his reelection bid.

They slammed Gordon’s campaign adverstisement, which featured Linconn and Mohit as the “faces of corruption” even if they are not facing any criminal complaint.