This is the second Yang brother to be dragged into the POGO mess, all linking back to Michael Yang who was adviser to Duterte
MANILA, Philippines – One lawmaker said a recently flagged Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) in Cagayan de Oro (CDO) has links to Tony Yang, believed to be the elder brother of Rodrigo Duterte’s former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang.
Sta. Rosa, Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez made the remarks during the House quad committee hearing on Thursday, September 19.
“This is owned by the same person, Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation, and the one you have inspected…. It is owned by Mr. Tony Yang, the brother of Michael Yang, and the brother of Hongjiang Yang,” Fernandez told CDO City Police Chief Colonel Salvador Radam in a mix of English and Filipino.
Radam confirmed to the House on Thursday that an operation it inspected on September 6 was indeed a POGO whose company name is Oroone Inc. The operation was already shut when police got there.
“The POGO operations already ended last July 2023. There were still chairs and tables, no more computers,” said Radam.
A police report said that the inspection was able to validate “that the specified gaming establishment has been closed.”
Oroone Inc is located at the Yangze building in the Alwana compound in Barangay Cugman in CDO. It was given a certificate of accreditation and authority to operate in February 2019 by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), specifically its gaming chief Andrea Domingo.
The Yangze building is supposedly owned by the Golden Citi Development Inc, a leasing company, much like how Alice Guo’s Baofu leased its compound to Hongsheng/Zun Yuan POGO in Bamban, Tarlac, or Cassandra Ong’s Whirlwind leased its compound to Lucky South 99 POGO in Porac, Pampanga.
Golden City’s incorporator is Antonio Lim, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents, and Lim is believed to be the same person as Tony Yang, his Chinese name being Jianxin Yang. Lim/Yang is also an incorporator of Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation, based on SEC records, which is the company that Fernandez mentioned.
Sanjia is around a 30-minute drive from the Yangze building, where the POGO was, but it is a noteworthy company because it is within Phividec, the government agency that develop sites for industrial areas.
“In their pitch to Phividec, they said [Sanjia] is a Filipino corporation. But if we look at their president, Antonio Lim, the same person as Tony Yang and Jianxin Yang, he is a purely Chinese national,” said Fernandez in a mix of English and Filipino, showing a Chinese passport for Jianxin Yang.
“Tony Yang is a Chinese national, how can he own a property and [buy] lands in Cagayan de Oro City, hundreds of hectares, for being a national. We can see here a Chinese national trying to be Filipino, getting a birth certificate from the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority], and to transact or use a Philippine steel corporation as a front,” Fernandez added.
Fernandez was alluding to the accusation that dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo bought a Filipino birth certificate to hide her Chinese citizenship – which later allowed her to run for mayor.
There are multiple proceedings seeking to cancel not only Guo’s Filipino birth certificate, but also her election eligibility.
This new revelation drags to the mess once again the businessman Michael Yang, the most prominent Yang brother by virtue of his closeness to former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Michael Yang got a Malacañang contract as a presidential adviser, represented the Philippines in a 2017 Chinese Communist Party (CPP) event in Fujian, and expanded his business network under the Duterte presidency. According to their Chinese passports, Michael is the youngest, Hongjiang is the middle brother, and Tony is the eldest.
Hongjiang Yang was found to have a joint bank account with Zhengcan Yu, one of the incorporators of Hongsheng Gaming Corporation — the POGO in Bamban, Tarlac inside the compound owned by Baofu, which Alice Guo incorporated. This joint bank account was among those frozen by the Court of Appeals as the investigation into the Guo network continues.
The bank account of Hongjiang Yang and Zhengcan Yu had an almost P2 billion cash flow from 2018 to 2022.
Guo on Thursday denied knowing Hongjiang Yang.
“I have never transacted with him, your honor,” Guo said in Filipino.
Hongjiang and Michael are also interconnected to the group that put up Pharmally, the company that cornered the biggest pandemic contracts for face masks and other personal protective equipment under the Duterte administration.
Graft charges had been filed against Pharmally officials, and Duterte’s procurement chief that was involved in the scandal was arrested in Davao City on Wednesday, September 18. – Rappler.com
