Acorda photos with key POGO players bared

MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Benjamin Acorda Jr. has been invited to the next hearing of the Senate investigating crimes linked to Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs).

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the presiding officer and chairperson of the Senate committee on women, children and family affairs, said she was hopeful that the POGO investigation would end today, but new revelations “warrant further investigations with individuals whose side needs to be heard in the interest of fairness,” prompting her to invite Acorda to the next hearing.

She presented some photos of the former PNP chief with persons linked to illegal POGOs, including Tony Yang, the elder brother of Michael Yang, a former presidential economic adviser of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

She confronted Tony Yang, also known as Yang Jianxin, about a photograph in which he was with three others including Acorda.

“Can you explain this photo? Is that a meeting? Who are the companions and what did you talk about?” Hontiveros asked.

Through an interpreter, Yang explained that it was not a meeting but they just visited Acorda, who was the police chief of Cagayan de Oro City at that time.

In the second photo, Tony was with Acorda while the latter was the regional police director of Region 10 or Northern Mindanao.

Tony admitted that he and Acorda have known each other for a long time.

Hontiveros also revealed he has a warrant of arrest in China for fraud.

She turned to Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo Calugay to identify a photo where he was with Acorda and several other personalities including Wesley Guo, a brother of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo.

Calugay answered Acorda once served as chief of police of Sual.

Hontiveros asked Calugay, Alice and Cassandra Li Ong about why Wesley joined during a visit to Acorda, in which the Sual mayor claimed he just wanted to see the former top cop.

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. senior vice president Raul Villanueva had previously tagged a former PNP chief for being included in Alice Guo’s payroll and helping the dismissed mayor escape the Philippines. He did not reveal any names in his statement.

However, he admitted that the information was only a rumor and not a piece of reliable information, prompting him to apologize to the 24 living former PNP chiefs.

‘Like a kingdom’

Hontiveros presented Tony’s birth certificate which showed that he also benefited from the late birth certificate registration system – he had his late birth registered in 2004 when Yang was 34 years old under the Filipino name Antonio Maestrado Lim.

“It is clear that your birth certificate is fake, just like your Filipino citizenship,” Hontiveros said.

Speaking through a translator, a Chinese-speaking Tony admitted that his grandfather helped him with his birth certificate so he can be brought to the Philippines and help the family set up their business in Cagayan de Oro.

PAOCC director Gilbert Cruz told the Senate hearing that “the silent but thinking (Tony) Yang” runs Cagayan De Oro City like a “kingdom,” where all other businesses that need to set up there have to go through his approval.

“He runs their big business in Cagayan de Oro and their POGO,” Cruz added.

Tony’s steel plant Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation based in Cagayan de Oro City is under PAOCC’s watch for being a suspected hub of an illegal POGO, according to the agency.

“All the indicators are there. We haven’t entered the place yet, but intelligence reports and documents point to a POGO operation,” Cruz added.

Hontiveros said Tony’s Sanjia Steel “is supposed to be a steel plant but it looks like it has POGO-like facilities like dormitory-style facilities, a restricted area where Filipinos are prohibited and a torturer.”

Tony also owns Oro One Inc., a customer relations service provider for Xionwei Technology, a POGO hub linked to Michael Yang’s close associate Lin Weixiong.

The two are key officials of Pharmally Pharmaceuticals, which is behind the overpriced pandemic supply mess during the previous administration.

Hontiveros showed during the hearing a photo of Duterte, Michael and Lin, with the senator trying to link the former president to the illegal POGO activities because of his association with the two Yangs and Lin.

“It looks like you are close to many high-ranking officials in government. Your brother served as the economic adviser of former president Duterte. Are you close to the former president?” Hontiveros asked.

“I am not very close to the former president and (I have) no contact with him,” Tony replied.

However, Hontiveros doubted Tony’s claim, saying he’s “not very close, but a little close” to Duterte. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab