Pharmally director Linconn Ong. Screengrab from Senate Youtube livestream
MANILA, Philippines — Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. director Linconn Ong, through his legal counsel, has requested to be excused from further participating in the Senate blue ribbon committee investigation into the government’s deals with the firm.
In a letter to Senate blue ribbon panel chairman Senator Richard Gordon, Ong’s counsel, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, said his client intimated to him that “he wishes to exercise his right not to participate any further in the subsequent proceedings” of the panel.
Ong, despite the letter, was present in Thursday’s hearing of the committee.
‘Physically forced’?
In a statement issued by Pharmally’s media arm to reporters, Topacio claimed his client is “being physically forced to attend the Blue Ribbon committee hearing.”
“He has the right not to participate. No matter what he says, he will just be put in contempt, humiliated, and his character assassinated,” Topacio said.
“They will not believe that the President has nothing to do with Pharmally, and they are trying to force my client to say otherwise. What they are doing is all in the name of dirty politics,” Topacio added.
Ong is currently under the custody of the Senate after he was cited in contempt for evading questions. He was supposed to be transferred to the Pasay City Jail last week.
His planned transfer to the city jail, which no longer pushed through, was prompted by his repeated refusal to divulge how much Pharmally borrowed from former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang.
Yang has maintained he did not finance Pharmally, insisting that his role was limited to introducing Ong to his friends among suppliers in China who could provide financial assistance.