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SC voids Senate’s arrest, contempt order vs Pharmally exec, ex-Presidential economic adviser

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Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Members of the Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms escort Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corporation Executive Linconn Ong inside the Senate building Tuesday, September 21, 2021. Ong was cited in contempt and ordered arrested by the Blue Ribbon Committee for evading questions during the September 10, 2021 hybrid inquiry on the 2020 Commission on Audit report and other issues related to budget utilization of the Department of Health (DOH), especially its expenditures related to the fight against COVID-19. Senate PRIB Photos" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/11/13/20210921-ong-linconn-senate-prib-2.jpg"/><figcaption>Members of the Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms escort Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corporation Executive Linconn Ong inside the Senate building Tuesday, September 21, 2021. Ong was cited in contempt and ordered arrested by the Blue Ribbon Committee for evading questions during the September 10, 2021 hybrid inquiry on the 2020 Commission on Audit report and other issues related to budget utilization of the Department of Health (DOH), especially its expenditures related to the fight against COVID-19. Senate PRIB Photos</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA — The Supreme Court has voided the arrest and contempt orders issued by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee against Pharmally executive Linconn Ong and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang over their supposed refusal to answer questions during a Senate probe into alleged anomalies in the procurement of COVID-19 medical supplies.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/11/13/document.jpg" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/11/13/document.jpg"/></figure></div>The Senate panel issued the contempt order against Ong on September 10, 2021, for his alleged act of “testifying falsely or evasively.” <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/21/21/senate-arrests-pharmally-exec-over-evasive-answers">Senate arrests Pharmally exec over allegedly evasive answers in inquiry</a></li></ul>Meanwhile, the arrest orders for Yang, a former Duterte adviser, were issued on September 7 and 10, 2021 over his refusal to disclose information involving his properties and business interests.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/10/21/senate-orders-arrest-of-michael-yang-pharmally-exec">Senate orders arrest of Michael Yang, Pharmally exec for evading questions</a></li></ul>The two challenged the Senate orders before the Supreme Court, also questioning the constitutionality of section 18 of the Senate Rules on Inquiries which allows the Senate to hold in contempt a witness who “testifies falsely or evasively.”<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/07/21/detained-pharmally-exec-seeks-scs-help-vs-senate">Pharmally&#x27;s Linconn Ong seeks SC&#x27;s help vs Senate&#x27;s contempt order</a></li></ul>In nullifying the contempt orders, the Supreme Court en banc said that while the Senate has the power to conduct inquries in aid of legislation and the accompanying powers to declare a witness in contempt and order his/her arrest, the Senate panel “failed to accord petitioners their rights relative to the conduct of its proceedings.”Among these rights are the right to due process and the right against unreasonable seizures.Senators had accused Ong of lying when he confessed that Pharmally had an agreement with Yang but could not remember the terms, that Pharmally paid its suppliers P54 million through corporate funds when Pharmally only had a paid-up capital of P625,000 at the beginning of 2020, and that he was hesitant in giving direct answers regarding documents pertaining to supplies of personal protective equipment (PPEs).<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/31/21/what-is-pharmally-pharmaceuticals-who-controls-it">What is Pharmally Pharmaceuticals? Who controls it?</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/19/21/linconn-ong-not-yet-ready-to-reveal-details-of-pharmallys-loans-from-yang">Linconn Ong &#x27;not yet ready&#x27; to reveal how much money Michael Yang lent Pharmally</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/10/21/pharmally-exec-admits-borrowing-money-from-michael-yang-for-ps-dbm-deal">Pharmally exec admits borrowing money from Michael Yang for PS-DBM deal</a></li></ul>As for Yang, senators pointed to his “questionable, incomplete, evasive and inconsistent answers,” specifically regarding Pharmally.But the high court said the contempt orders finding that Ong and Yang testified falsely and evasively “lacks factual basis.”<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/07/21/detained-pharmally-exec-seeks-scs-help-vs-senate">Pharmally&#x27;s Linconn Ong seeks SC&#x27;s help vs Senate&#x27;s contempt order</a></li></ul>“Ong was able to subsequently aver that they had other funds sourced from the savings of the incorporators, and that they also borrowed money from friends,” the Supreme Court said, speaking through SC Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting.“The totality of his responses evince that he was mindful of his right against self-incrimination. Again, he manifested his willingness to cooperate in the investigation by committing to produce and submit documents required by the Committee,” it added.The Supreme Court also pointed out, the Senate committee could not have determined based on Yang’s testimony in 1 hearing alone that the totality of evidence shows he was trying to evade answering the questions directly.“[T]he fact that Yang made inconsistent or incomplete answers in the course of his testimony does not conclusively establish that he was evasive within the context of contempt, that is, there was refusal or unwillingness to testify on his part. While Yang initially tried to avoid giving any leading information as regards his connection with Pharmally, he was able to subsequently aver in the course of the proceedings that he introduced the suppliers of face masks and PPEs to Ong,” it explained.The high court said the Senate panel committed grave abuse of discretion when it cited Ong and Yang in contempt and ordered their arrests “without giving them the opportunity to be heard.”“As succinctly pointed out by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, witnesses who are charged by Congress with ‘giving false or evasive testimony’ must be accorded stricter due process requirements, such as the opportunity to explain one’s side before being penalized, consistent with the due process safeguards used in criminal proceedings. Considering the broad definition of ‘giving false or evasive testimony,’ the witness must, at the very least, given a chance to explain why his or her testimony is not false or evasive,” it said.Despite this, the high court said the phrase “testifies falsely or evasively” in section 18 of the Senate Rules on Inquries is “not vague” and can be understood by persons of common knowledge or intelligence, declining to declare it unconstitutional.It also upheld the Senate committee’s request for the Department of Justice to issue a lookout bulletin against Yang and its authority to compel Yang to answer questions and submit documents regarding his property and business intererests, including information about himself.Yang had invoked his right to privacy but the high court said this right cannot prevail over an “overriding compelling state interest” which is the Senate committee’s right to conduct an inquiry over the alleged misuse of government funds.It also pointed out, Yang never raised this issue before the Senate.Yang had remained at large all throughout the Senate probe.Ong, who was detained in the Senate and in the Pasay City Jail along with another Pharmally executive, was released on June 2, 2022, a day before the Senate adjourned its final session under the 18th Congress, which terminated all congressional proceedings.All 14 other Supreme Court justice concurred in Justice Inting’s ruling although 2 justices also expressed some dissenting views on some issues.

The Supreme Court has voided the arrest and contempt orders issued by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee against Pharmally executive Linconn Ong and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang.

SC voids Senate’s arrest, contempt order vs Pharmally exec, ex-Presidential economic adviser

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SC voids Senate’s arrest, contempt order vs Pharmally exec, ex-Presidential economic adviser

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published November 13, 2023 11:46 AM PHT

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