TWO officials of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation were transferred yesterday to the Pasay City jail from Senate detention.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology which has jurisdiction over the city jail said there would be no special treatment for Mohit Dargani and Linconn Ong who were ordered detained for their continued refusal to turn over their company’s financial records to the Blue Ribbon committee which is investigating the company’s supply contracts with government.
Dargani is Pharmally’s corporate treasurer/secretary, and Ong, company director.
“Walang special treatment. Walang preferential attention para sa kanila. Ang policy ng BJMP, pantay pantay na pagtrato sa lahat ng aming PDL, patas na pagmamalasakit sa lahat (There will be no special treatment. No preferential attention will be given to them. The policy of the BJMP is we treat every PDL [person deprived of liberty] equally),” said Chief Insp. Xavier Solda, BJMP spokesman.
Solda said the city jail is already 1,000 percent congested as it now holds 1,104 PDLs. It does not have a separate facility, except for the isolation area which Solda said is intended for newly-committed PDLs, as part of health and security procedures being observed in jails.
He said the two will be staying at the isolation area for 10 to 14 days, after which “they will be assigned to a cell in the general population.”
Before Dargani and Ong were transferred, they underwent rapid antigen tests which yielded negative for COVID-19, according to Dr. Renato Sison of the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau.
The two left the Senate premises at around 1 p.m. and arrived at the Pasay jail at around 1:48 p.m.
Dargani was arrested with his sister Twinkle Dargani, the company president, at the Davao International Airport on November 14 as they were on board a chartered private plane which was supposed to take them to Kuala Lumpur.
The Dargani siblings have since been detained at the Senate. They were ordered arrested for their refusal to turn over their company’s financial records to the Blue Ribbon committee.
Ong has been under Senate custody since September 21. He was arrested after being cited in contempt for apparently lying to senators.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier said Dargani and Ong will be detained at Pasay jail “until such time that they will properly answer questions propounded to them, submit documents required by the committee or otherwise purge themselves of a contempt order imposed against them.” — With Victor Reyes and Noel Talacay
