Senator Richard Gordon (left) and Rose Nono Lin (right) during a hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Senate screengrab)
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate blue ribbon committee has suspended for 10 days the arrest order against a businesswoman being linked to the Pharmally controversy for humanitarian reasons.
In a statement on Monday, panel chairman Senator Richard Gordon said Rose Nono Lin’s camp made an appeal to the committee, saying the businesswoman is currently admitted in a hospital for a “surgical procedure.”
Lin is among the five personalities cited in contempt in late January after they failed to attend hearings into the controversy involving Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
“If Rose Nono Lin is indeed ill and needs to have surgery in a hospital, we are not heartless people to not allow such required procedure to be performed on her,” Gordon said.
But Gordon stressed that the investigation will go on as necessary until the “whole truth of the scandal is uncovered and the perpetrators are brought to justice.”
“Rose Nono Lin’s husband remains outside of the country despite her being supposedly ill with COVID-19 and other maladies. This goes to show that he would rather be absent and far from his wife even during these times. It tells us that his evasion of Senate summons is more important than providing succor to his spouse,” Gordon said.
“It must also be emphasized that Rose Nono Lin is not exempt from appearing in the continuing investigation nor will her supposed illness exempt her from justice,” he added.
Gordon’s statement noted that Lin’s counsel, during a Pasay City Regional Trial Court hearing on Friday, sought the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and Injunction seeking to prohibit the Senate from enforcing an arrest order earlier issued against her for contempt.