MANILA - Senators have approved the supervised visit of Pharmally Director Linconn Ong to his child who caught dengue, following an appeal from his wife and for humanitarian reasons, Senator Richard Gordon said on Friday.

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Summer Ong earlier sought the release of her husband from detention at the Pasay City Jail after their child was confined in a hospital.

But members of the Blue Ribbon Committee, which he chairs, only allowed escorted visits "for a limited time daily" only on the days determined by the panel, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Pasay City Jail.

"Each visit shall be jointly supervised by the said authorities... At the same time, I wrote to Mrs. Ong to commiserate with her at this difficult time," he said in a statement.

"The Blue Ribbon Committee is not without compassion. For humanitarian reasons, but without wavering on or compromising our position regarding his contempt of the Senate, I, as Chairman of the Committee, will allow Mr. Ong fully escorted visits to his son in hospital," he added.

Ong is in quarantine in the Pasay City Jail since December after his supposed evasiveness and failure to submit crucial documents to senators. Last year, Gordon said Ong could be in detention until "June 29 or 30."

• Gordon: Pharmally officials will spend holidays in detention

Gordon also explained that they did not allow Ong to be released during this time because doing so would "render the Senate powerless to protect itself and the nation."

"If we are to abide by our sworn duty to protect and defend the Filipino people, there can be no room to be soft on crime and to succumb to political pressure," he said.

This week, the investigative panel also approved the 10-day suspension of the contempt order on Rose Nono-Lin.

Lin, who is seeking a congressional post, is a stockholder and an officer in several companies linked to Pharmally.

"We, as senators, should be firm in our resolve to protect and defend not only our duties to investigate, but also against individuals who attempt to make a mockery of our mandated processes," he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his disapproval of the Senate's marathon hearings regarding pandemic deals, lamenting the way lawmakers treat resource speakers, including government officials handling the country's coronavirus response.

The Senate panel is investigating Pharmally after records showed that the budget department's procurement service awarded billions of pesos worth of government contracts to the company that only had less than a million pesos in paid-up capital.

The government denies there was overpricing and said the deals were above board.

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