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Lawyer who visited detained Pharmally execs no longer with Palace: Duterte spox

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Officers of the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau (MDB) conduct a medical check-up on arrested Pharmally executives Mohit and Twinkle Dargani following their arrival at the Senate Sunday evening, Nov. 14, 2021. Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Blue Ribbon committee chairperson Sen. Richard Gordon had ordered the arrest of some Pharmally executives, including the Darganis, for skipping hearings related to the budget utilization of the Department of Health (DOH), particularly its COVID-19 expenditures. Henzberg Austria, Senate PRIB" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/11/17/20211115-ph-senate-pharmally-dargani-arrest-sprib0.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>Officers of the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau (MDB) conduct a medical check-up on arrested Pharmally executives Mohit and Twinkle Dargani following their arrival at the Senate Sunday evening, Nov. 14, 2021. Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Blue Ribbon committee chairperson Sen. Richard Gordon had ordered the arrest of some Pharmally executives, including the Darganis, for skipping hearings related to the budget utilization of the Department of Health (DOH), particularly its COVID-19 expenditures. Henzberg Austria, Senate PRIB</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA — Malacañang said on Wednesday that a lawyer who visited two detained executives of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp at the Senate is no longer connected with the Office of the President.Lawyer Daryl Ritchie Valles &quot;was formerly under the Office of the President&quot; but has resigned on March 1 this year, said acting Palace spokesman Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles. Sen. Richard Gordon said earlier in the day that Valles initially denied he was connected to Malacañang when he introduced himself Tuesday as a lawyer of Pharmally executives Mohit and Twinkle Dargani, who were arrested in Davao City last Sunday as they were boarding a private plane bound for Malaysia. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/15/21/sara-duterte-on-pharmally-execs-weve-nothing-to-hide-in-davao">Sara Duterte on Pharmally execs: We&#x27;ve nothing to hide in Davao</a></li></ul>The Darganis are being detained for evading a Senate probe into allegedly overpriced medical supply deals with the government during the pandemic since last year.After meeting with the Dargani siblings, Valles eventually disclosed that he used to work under the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, Gordon told ANC.While the Darganis are &quot;welcome to get any lawyer their money can buy,&quot; Gordon said, &quot;I don’t see any reason why this guy should even deny that he was with the Office of the President.&quot; &quot;Once you lie, everything goes into question. You know, very, very questionable, the way he behaved, he comported himself, denying it,&quot; said the senator. &quot;He was allowed in, he didn’t have to lie. But he did lie.&quot; Nograles said that upon leaving the Office of the President, Valles worked in an office under the House of Representatives.In a separate statement, Sen. Christopher &quot;Bong&quot; Go, who used to head the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, said it has been more than three years since he cut his ties with the staff of that unit in Malacanang.&quot;I resigned as Special Assistant to the President in 2018,&quot; he said, citing the year he filed his candidacy for senator during the 2019 elections.&quot;Nabalitaan ko na nag-resign na yang tinutukoy na si Atty. Daryl Valles sa Office of the President noon pa at naka-ilang lipat na ng pinagtatrabahuhan. This can be confirmed by Palace officials or Atty. Valles himself,&quot; said Go, without stating whether or not he personally knew the lawyer.(I have learned that the person referred to as Atty. Daryl Valles has resigned already from the Office of the President and has taken other jobs after.)But he said any person who violates the law should be apprehended, charged and made accountable, as advised also, according to him, by President Rodrigo Duterte.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/10/21/duterte-put-pharmally-execs-with-unpaid-taxes-behind-bars">Duterte: Pharmally execs with unpaid taxes &#x27;can all go to prison&#x27;</a></li></ul>Gordon, a lawyer, reiterated that flight is a &quot;strong indication of guilt&quot; for the Darganis.Noting that the Senate is a co-equal branch of government, he added, &quot;Hindi dapat minamaliit na puwede mong takasan, you can leave. Akala nila we have no long arm.&quot; (It cannot be belittled, you should not assume you can escape or leave. They thought we have no long arm.)&quot;This is deliberate, this is part of the conspiracy. Even the escape was planned,&quot; he added. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/19/21/grand-conspiracy-gordon-says-pharmally-deals-approved-by-duterte">Gordon accuses Duterte of &#x27;grand conspiracy&#x27; in Pharmally deals as probe continues</a></li></ul>Gordon alleged last month that the questionable deals that government got into with Pharmally supposedly got Duterte&#x27;s approval, saying, &quot;This grand conspiracy could never have happened without the imprimatur of the executive from beginning to end, from meeting with Pharmally to the appointments of selected people who are extremely loyal to him is [the] basis of the appointment and not competence.&quot; <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/10/14/21/what-the-facts-all-about-pharmally">What the facts: All about Pharmally</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1832858" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>Duterte has maintained there was no overpricing in government&#x27;s transactions with Pharmally, even as he said the Senate can &quot;crumple&quot; the firm.He, however, banned his aides from attending the Senate probe in early October, saying he would not allow legislative hearings to disrupt work in the executive branch.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/10/21/duterte-put-pharmally-execs-with-unpaid-taxes-behind-bars">Duterte: Put Pharmally execs with unpaid taxes behind bars </a></li></ul>The President also accused senators leading the investigation of politicking. &quot;You cannot erase the fact that so much money has been lost in the pandemic, so much momentum has been lost… Therefore, dapat talaga, imbestigahan ‘yan (that must be investigated),&quot; Gordon said of the government&#x27;s pandemic deals. &quot;Hindi naman ako nag-iimbestiga in aid of reelection. I’ve been there, done that. I’ve been in several elections,&quot; he added. (I am not investigating in aid of reelection.)The senator had said that public funds wasted on anomalous government transactions could have been used for the benefits of health workers who are battling COVID-19 in the frontlines.<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1802924" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Malacañang said a lawyer who visited two detained executives of Pharmally at the Senate is no longer connected with the Office of the President.