‘Michael Yang’s associates have gone into hiding’

MANILA, Philippines — Associates of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s economic adviser Michael Yang, who is being investigated by a House committee for drug links, may have all gone into hiding after being found to have faked their identities and used spurious documents to acquire vast landholdings in the country.

This was according to Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, who said the Chinese nationals “pretended to be Filipinos” so they could engage in a property buying binge, most likely for their illegal activities like drug trafficking.

“They (Yang’s associates) never showed up (at committee hearings). Even the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) could not locate them. There is a saying that flight is indicative of guilt,” the Surigao del Norte second district congressman said.

“If they are really innocent, we urge them to come out and explain their roles in the labyrinth they created,” Barbers said, referring to Yang’s allies Aedy Yang, Henry Yang and Elaine Chua, among others.

“I always say that we have no problems with Chinese nationals doing legitimate business in our country. But doing these illegal drug activities is another story. We have extended all invitations to these people and we have observed due process,” he said.

“Using fictitious documents and corporations,” Barbers said the Chinese “went on buying sprees and allegedly bought hundreds and possibly thousands of hectares of agricultural and residential lands” in the Ilocos region during the previous Duterte administration.

They have also “started building warehouses,” Barbers said.

“These very suspicious activities have stopped as soon as we started the investigations. So now, they again resorted to hiding these assets by ‘selling’ them to other Chinese nationals. We promise that we will leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom truth of this mess,” he said.

He also said there is nothing new about Yang’s alleged drug connections, particularly to the P3 billion worth of shabu seized in Mexico, Pampanga in 2023.

“The connection of alleged drug lord Michael Yang to these drug activities is no surprise. Remember that in the past administration, he was named by a top official of the PNP (Philippine National Police) who was then tasked to investigate illegal drug activities,” Barbers recalled.

“It was discovered that the one on top of the drug trade was Michael Yang,” he said.

Over the weekend, Barbers disclosed that they would invite Yang to their next hearing so he could shed light on his alleged links to the Pampanga drug bust, conducted jointly by agents of the NBI and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Empire 999, the company that owns the warehouse where the drugs were stored, was found to be owned by Chinese nationals who also control other shell companies, together with other personalities earlier linked to anomalous activities during the past administration.

In an investigation conducted last May 8, Lincoln Ong – a controversial figure in the Pharmally scandal and interpreter of Michael Yang – was found to be an incorporator of a company with links to Empire 999.

‘STL’ Morales

Meanwhile, members of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa continue to question the credibility of a former PDEA agent’s testimony on leaked documents linking President Marcos and other officials to drugs.

One of the bosses of former PDEA agent Jonathan Morales even mockingly called him an STL or “professional storytelling liar.”

“One of the lessons I learned in law school is the legal maxim – that he who alleges has the burden to prove this. Apart from Morales’ statement, what other evidence did he present? Nothing,” Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said at yesterday’s hearing of the committee.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the issues discussed in the hearing were far from the scope of the so-called PDEA leaked documents.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been really patient, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the Batangas drug haul and nothing to do with the PDEA leaks. This is something former agent Morales has probably against (former PDEA chief) General Arturo Cacdac or probably has something against (former PDEA chief) General Felizardo Serapio,” Escudero said.

A surprise witness introduced by Estrada, former PDEA chief Dionisio Santiago questioned the credibility of Morales.

“Don’t take this badly, Jonathan, but do you know our friends call you STL? Don’t forget, STL, they know you personally. What is STL? I know it’s small town lottery, but it’s professional story telling liar, STL,” Santiago said.

At the hearing, Estrada reminded Morales of his criminal records and that he had misrepresented himself when he filled out an application form as PDEA agent where he indicated he had not been criminally charged.

Estrada also noted a July 7, 2014 decision of the Civil Service Commission affirming PDEA’s decision to dismiss Morales and disqualify him “from reemployment in the government service.”

But Morales retorted that the case against him has not yet been proven in court, “unlike our good senator (Estrada) who’s already a convict.”

Dela Rosa interrupted Morales to ask him to respect Estrada.

Cacdac confirmed that Morales had admitted planting evidence in a drug bust operation.

Persecution

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri urged his colleagues to “be very careful” and make sure that the committee’s motu proprio hearings would not be used for political persecution.

“We respect the committees’ right to perform oversight functions, in aid of legislation. However, we would like to remind our colleagues to be very careful not to use hearings in aid of political persecution,” Zubiri later told reporters.

“Very serious accusations have been made. Whether they have merit or not is a whole other matter,” Zubiri added.

“While certain claims were made, documentary evidence is yet to be presented. There were no pictures, no corroborating testimonies. In other words, this was solely based on the testimony of one person based on what appears to be hearsay evidence,” he said.

“Morales cited a document which he claims to have seen, by virtue of his former position, although he did not personally witness any wrongdoing. The drug test of the President is being brought up, even though it does not appear to be germane to the subject of the motu proprio investigation,” Zubiri pointed out.

“Under a court of law, guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. While legislative inquiries are very liberal in terms of adhering to rules of evidence, it is our opinion that hearings should aim to ferret out the truth using evidence and facts,” he said.

“There have been instances when statements were made in legislative inquiries, only to be recanted before the courts later on. We do not want a repeat of that.” — Cecille Suerte Felipe