Tony Yang, the ‘architect’ of an alleged shady Chinese network in the Philippines

“Hindi ito nakakatawa, seryoso itong usapin sa aming mga Pilipino (This is not a laughing matter, this is serious for us Filipinos),” opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said, upset at the reaction of the Senate’s resource person, Tony Yang (Chinese name: Jianxin Yang), when the senator mentioned alleged incidents of torture inside one of Yang’s business establishments.

“May dorm-style facilities, may restricted area na bawal kaming mga Pilipino, meron pang torturer, may taga-palo (there are dorm-style facilities, there is an area restricted to Filipinos, and there is a torturer in charge of paddling),” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros was describing the supposed operations of Sanjia Steel Corporation, which according to the company records, is owned by Yang and four other associates. Sanjia operates a steel mill out of the state-run Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corporation (Phividec) industrial compound in Baluarte, Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental. The contract between Yang’s Sanjia and Phividec was signed in 2018, when Rodrigo Duterte was already president.

The investigations into illegal POGOs (Philippine offshore gaming operators) has now shifted to Yang, the elder brother of Michael Yang, who was Duterte’s economic adviser. Yang has been arrested on grounds of being an undesirable alien, a tactical strategy for Philippine authorities to keep him in custody, seeing that all of the wanted Chinese bosses in the POGO trafficking case are now nowhere to be found.

“Ang katotohanan ay bagamat mas kilala si Michael, si Tony ang sinasabing totoong architect ng operations ng mga Yang (The truth is, even though Michael is more known, Tony is the true architect of the Yang operations),” said Hontiveros.

Yang admits to faking a Filipino birth certificate

Tony Yang came to the Philippines in 1998 or 1999, he told the Senate, which means he was 28 or 29 years old at the time, based on the date of birth in his Chinese passport. Yang, now 54 years old, said he does not have a Philippine passport, only a Chinese one.

But he has a Filipino birth certificate under the name Antonio Maestrado Lim supposedly born in Misamis Oriental. This, Yang admitted, was fake. He was born in China, Yang said himself, specifically in Fujian province as stated in his passport.

“It was my maternal grandfather who helped me process my birth certificate during the third or fourth year that I came here in the Philippines,” Yang said in Mandarin, as translated by the Senate’s interpreter.

Fake birth certificate or not, Yang was able to establish himself in the business community, particularly in Cagayan de Oro, where he was close enough to top police officials to manage to be in one room with them, and take a group photo that’s more than just a casual groufie.

His younger brother Michael was also in the Philippines around the same time, in 1999, and met a local VIP — then Davao City mayor, later turned president, Duterte. The former president’s friendship with Yang flourished through the years when Duterte said Yang was the gateway to business with China.

What kind of business? Michael Yang was the financier of Pharmally Pharmaceutical, the undercapitalized business owned by a mix of Chinese and Singaporeans, and which bagged billions of pesos’ worth of pandemic contracts under Duterte, but whose PPEs (personal protective equipment) were substandard. A graft indictment had been issued against the Pharmally officials, and government officials who helped them. Michael Yang’s business expanded during Duterte’s term, even branching out to a POGO. (READ: Biggest pandemic supplier has links to ex-Duterte adviser Michael Yang)

Tony Yang’s empire also branched out to POGO via a company named Oroone located inside the Alwana business park in Cagayan de Oro City, near his steel mill. Oroone’s president, according to the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records, was Tony Yang. But he denied this during the hearing, and said Oroone “just rented from us…it was during that time that they needed help with their permits and all, that’s why I was connected with them,” the interpreter said, translating Tony Yang’s explanation.

The Allan Lim connection

Oroone has a certificate of accreditation from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to be a customer relations service provider to Xionwei Technology Co. Ltd. Inc. Xionwei had a POGO license, according to a list from Pagcor.

A previous Rappler investigation found that Xionwei is owned by Rose Nono Lin and Lin Weixiong. Lin Weixiong is an interesting figure because he is allegedly the same person as Allan Lim, who was tagged in the illegal drug trade along with Michael Yang by the former intelligence officer Eduardo Acierto, who’s still in hiding to this day, fearing that his revelations have put his life in danger.

Tony Yang said he knows Lin Weixiong/Allan Lim only “through Chinese social events.”

The Oroone-Xionwei connection is the direct link from Tony Yang to the Michael Yang network (aside from them being brothers). This, Hontiveros believes, is reason to believe that “mukhang iisang network — o happy Pharmally — lang talaga ito (this looks like just one network — or just one happy Pharmally).”

Hontiveros asked Tony Yang if the latter reported to anyone. “I don’t have a boss, I don’t report to anyone…These are all my own businesses, I don’t report to anyone,” said Yang through the Senate’s interpreter.

A jet-setting, gun-toting, millionaire

When Tony Yang was arrested in a joint operation by the Bureau of Immigration and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), he was carrying P1.4 million in wads of P1,000 bills. He was monitored from his flight in CDO until he landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where he was apprehended for violation of the immigration law through misrepresentation.

Senator Joel Villanueva said Tony Yang was also found with at least six firearms.

Tony Yang also often traveled to Manila, and his flight records indicated he was using a Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV). According to Hontiveros, there are at least 16 businesses traceable to Tony Yang, either through SEC registrations or trade names linked to Antonio Maestrado Lim’s tax identification number (TIN).

Among these 16 are the condotel where Oroone operated from, the real estate firm Golden Citi much like how Alice Guo’s Baofu rented out property to a POGO, a rice mill, and a flour mill.

PAOCC chief Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said that Tony Yang’s Cagayan de Oro business employed around 300 Chinese nationals, but the businessman estimated he employed only around 100. Yang said they eventually let some Chinese workers go after training the Filipinos, because “we do not want the Chinese workers to work in our factory because there are a lot of factors, first because we need to give them higher salary compared to the Filipinos,” Yang’s interpreter said.

“It is important to sift through the noise and remember what this hearing has always been about: human beings forced to work as slaves, and the ineptitude of Philippine law and government to prevent it,” said Hontiveros.

At the House of Representatives quad committee, Sta Rosa City Representative Dan Fernandez said Tony Yang was caught in 2021 smuggling rice through Sanjia. Fernandez said they would soon reveal a matrix of financial transactions to link the Yang network to drugs, highlighting that Sanjia has its own port.

“Na-establish na namin ‘yan noon pa eh, kasi si Michael Yang, ‘yung pagpasok nila ng drugs dito through the Customs, one of the entry point is itong nangyayari sa Cagayan de Oro City,” Fernandez told reporters after the quad committee’s September 19 hearing.

(We established that before, because Michael Yang, their smuggling of drugs through Customs, one of the entry points is this port in Cagayan de Oro City.)

Another Yang brother, the middle sibling Hongjiang Yang was found to have a joint bank account with one of the owners of the POGO in Bamban, Tarlac. Before the Senate’s hearing on Tuesday ended, Guo requested and was granted an executive session, where the disgraced mayor promised she would give a tell-all testimony and reveal who the “most guilty” is. – Rappler.com