Summer Ong, wife of detained businessman Linconn Ong, has appealed to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Richard Gordon to free her husband for humanitarian reasons.
Ong, along with siblings Mohit and Twinkle Dargani, were previously cited in contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Senator Richard Gordon in relation to the committee’s inquiry on the alleged overpriced delivery of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) medical supplies that the government brought from Pharmally Pharmaceutical corporation.
The Gordon committee conducted 18 hybrid hearings on the contoversy and has already released a partial report on it.
Linconn and Mohit remain detained at the Pasay City Jail to this day while Twinkle, sister of Mohit, had been temporarily released to her mother because she tested positive for COVID-19.
Gordon had cited the three for contempt following their refusal to submit corporate documents related to Pharmally contracts with Procurement Service, Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) that reached about P10 billion although Pharmally only had a paid up capital of P625,000.
The letter, sent by Ong’s counsel, Rita Linda Jimeno, stated that the two-year-old son of Ong is currently confined for dengue and that his condition remained critical.
In the letter, Summer Ong told Gordon: “I fervently appeal to you to please let my husband go. It is not only I who need him most now, but also our son who is suffering from dengue, who may I just mention is not doing too well and constantly looks for his father.”
“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,’’ the letter added.
The Ong letter also called on Senate President Vicente Sotto to listen to her appeal.
“I seek for your and the other Senator’s most especially, Senate President Vicente Sotto’s understanding and compassion, to please consider setting my husband free. He is a father like yourself. He too is a husband like yourself,’’she said.
‘’What Linc is experiencing now, the anguish of not being there for his family, the difficult situation in a City Jail, which incidentally has no jurisdiction over him, and the constant fear for the future, with no clear indication as to when this will all end, please pardon my words, is torture brought upon him and to his family by you and the Senate,’’ she added.
The letter also stated that Linconn Ong and Mohit Dargani have filed separate cases in the Supreme Court (SC) and the Court of Appeals (CA), respectively, questioning the legality of the Senate’s continued push to keep both businessmen in jail and claiming it is a gross violation of their civil rights.
Aside from their petitions, Linconn and Mohit have likewise filed multiple motions praying for the immediate resolution of their respective cases. As of this writing, both Courts have yet to rule on their petitions months after their filing.