THE Senate Sergeant-at-Arms said the alleged business associates of former Presidential Adviser Michael Yang tagged in the Pharmally controversy have yet to be found.
Sergeant-at-Arms and retired general Rene Samonte said the five individuals connected to the controversial purchase of pandemic supplies by the government from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation still remain elusive.
Samonte said they are already coordinating with the Philippine National Police (PNP), while the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, on the ohter hand, is also coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation but the five individuals still cannot be found as of yesterday.
Atty. Lloyd Christopher Lao, the former chief of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), is being pointed to as the one who approved the purchase of pandemic supplies from Pharmally.
Gerald Cruz, Dennis Manalastas and Jayson Uson were also said to be involved in the Pharmally controversy, and with Chinese national Michael Yang, allegedly Pharmally’s financier.
Sophia Custodio, the listed owner of the company from whom the PS-DBM purchased the pandemic supplies, is also the subject of a search by law enforcement agencies.
Custodio is the girlfriend of Pharmally Corporate Secretary and Treasurer Mohit Dargani, who is now detained at the Pasay City Jail.
Meanwhile, the order for the arrest of businessman Rose Nono Lin is suspended in consideration of a notice that Lin is confined in a hospital because of a surgical procedure.
The individuals mentioned were ordered arrested for contempt for their failure to attend the hearings of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
The camp of Pharmally director Linconn Ong, on the other hand, is still awaiting for the decision on a request filed by Ong for his release from the Pasay City Jail to attend to his two-year-old child who is now at the hospital because of dengue,