MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Virgilio Lazo said on Thursday, November 7, that Lin Weixiong — who is indicted for graft over the irregular pandemic contracts given to Pharmally Pharmaceutical — turns up as a drug personality in their intelligence.

“We were able to talk to a confidential informant — he’s a reliable informant. When he talked to us, he hasn’t even seen the presentation of Colonel [Eduardo] Acierto before the Committee on Dangerous Drugs, when we took down [notes on] what he was telling us, it confirms some of the statements of Colonel Acierto,” said Lazo.

For years, there’s been confusion on whether Lin Weixiong, the financial manager of the shady Pharmally company, is the same person as the Allan Lim that was in Acierto’s intelligence report. Acierto claims this is the same person, and in his report, he also named Michael Yang, Lin’s close business associate and former presidential economic adviser to Rodrigo Duterte. Acierto is still in hiding, and joined Thursday’s hearing through Zoom.

“Nako-confuse po tayo but we’re only talking of one and the same person, Allan Lin na cinonfirm ni Mrs. Rose Nono Lin na husband niya,” said Lazo. (We’re being confused here but we’re only talking of one and the same person, Allan Lin who is confirmed by Mrs. Rose Nono Lin as her husband.)

The confusion is largely due to former PDEA chief Wilkins Villanueva telling former president Duterte in a televised COVID-19 briefing in 2021 that the Lim in Acierto’s report is not the Lin of Pharmally.

Villanueva repeated that finding on Thursday, saying that the Allan Lim who’s a supposed drug personality is not Lin.

“Sa image identification Mr. Chair, I confirm na hindi sila pareho, I have that…ako ang gumawa ng image na ‘yan, ‘yan ang prinesent ko sa Malacañang, pinag-kumpara ko lang naman ‘yung dalawa Mr Chair, napakalaki ng diperensya,” Villanueva said, taking the heat from lawmakers who berated him claiming that he was acting in deference to Duterte.

(In the image identification Mr. Chair, I confirm they are not the same, I have that, I made that image, I presented that to Malacañang, but when I compared the two Mr. Chair, there are big differences.)

That’s also what Lin’s wife, businesswoman Rose Nono Lin said. Shown the same pictures, Rose said the man on the left with a moustache is not her husband, but the man on the right is. Rose was shown more photos of a man photographed with Duterte and Yang (as seen below) and she confirmed it is indeed her husband. But it’s not Allan Lim the alleged drug personality, Rose repeatedly said.

Lazo, however, told the committee: “According to our informant, Allan Lim whose picture was identified  by Ms. Rose Lin as her husband, uses the names of Allan Lim, Allan Lin, Jeffrey Lim, Jeff Lin, Ayong, Weixiong Lin, Lin Weixiong, Lin Weixun, Wen Li Chen. These names are all confirmed by the different statements being made in the quad committee.”

While Rose said that she has never known her husband to use the name “Allan,” she did say earlier in the hearing that he uses the name “Jeffrey.”

Lazo’s testimony prompted lawmakers to pursue a line of interpellation to establish that maybe Rose would not know everything about her husband, whom she met around 2007 to 2008, and married in 2009.

“Alam mo lahat ng kanyang business transactions (Are you privy to all of his business transactions)?” asked human rights committee chairperson Bienvenido Abante.

“Hindi po (No),” said Rose.

“Sinasabi niya ba sa ‘yo lahat (Does he tell you everything)?” Abante asked.

“Kung ano po ‘yung gusto niyang sabihin (Whatever he wants to tell me),” said Rose.

Villanueva also repeated that in his years in PDEA, Yang has never turned up in intelligence on the drug trade. Acierto claimed that “I don’t think there was a proper investigation on the two.”

“Talagang clinear lang po nila agad (they just cleared them) without conducting proper investigation, because if they had done a proper investigation, they could have vetted my report that has attachments like warrants, records, Michael Yang’s tattoo. I don’t think they even invited Michael Yang or Allan Lim,” said Acierto.

A Rappler investigation has found that the year after Pharmally copped P7.4 billion in net sales as the Duterte government’s favorite pandemic contractors, Lin bought two properties in Dubai worth P1 billion. One of the posh villas was co-owned by Yang. Rose has earlier told the Senate they also have a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) business in Dubai. Yang’s last departure from the Philippines was in May 2024, going to Dubai.

Lin-Yang enterprise

Yang has admitted to being a guarantor for Pharmally, although senators believe he was a financier. Yang and Lin, and including Rose, belong to a network of at least eight interconnected companies including Pharmally Pharmaceutical.

One of the Lin couples’ businesses is a POGO named Xionwei Technology, whose service provider is the Cagayan de Oro City-based Oroone Inc., owned by Michael’s eldest brother Tony Yang. Tony Yang’s businesses are also under investigation for alleged links to smuggling and the drug trade.

The House Quad Committee is pursuing the Lin couple from another angle: Rose is an incorporator of a warehouse company called Golden Sun 99, which also lists as incorporator a certain Aedy Yang. An Aedy Yang is an incorporator of another company called Empire 999 which is tied to the warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga, where authorities seized  P3.6 billion worth of illegal drugs.

Asked about it, Rose said she knows Aedy Yang but not the other Empire 999 owner called Willie Ong. “Mr. Chair, hindi ko po alam [kung sino si Willie Ong] (Mr. Chair, I don’t know who Willie Ong is),” said Rose.

1-Rider Partylist Representative Rodge Gutierrez also pursued a lead of Rose’s connection to the Baofu compound of dismissed mayor Alice Guo in Bamban, Tarlac. The connection, according to Gutierrez, is through the company Xionwei, which Rose said holds a master license from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

One of the service providers under Xionwei’s master license is a company called Brickhartz Technology, Rose confirmed, and even added that she would check which of her relatives are involved with Brickhartz. “I am not sure po kung sino ang mga pamangkin ko ang nandiyan, if I am not mistaken (I am not sure who among my nieces or nephews is there, if I am not mistaken),” said Rose.

Brickhartz, along with other service providers, was located in Baofu, according to matrix of the quad committee. Michael and Tony’s middle brother Hongjiang — who is also Rose’s co-incorporator in some companies — holds a joint bank account with the incorporator of Hongsheng, the first POGO raided inside Baofu.

Sta. Rosa, Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez showed screenshots of a Facebook Messenger and Viber user named Rose Lin asking a person named Alvin about hiding properties in Porac, insinuating that Lin also has ties to the raided POGO in Porac, Pampanga.

Rose vehemently denied that it was her, and even dared Fernandez: “Sakali po ba na mapatunayan na ang ginamit doon na messenger ay peke, maaari ‘nyo po ba akong tulungan para mai-track po ‘yun?” (If I can prove that the messenger used there is fake, can you help me track it down?)”

Rappler tried to interview Rose when she left the House Thursday evening, but she begged off citing the continuing investigation.

– Rappler.com