THE House committee on dangerous drugs yesterday issued a show-cause order to Chinese businessman Michael Yang, an economic adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte, to explain why he did not attend the panel’s hearing on the discovery of 560 kilos of shabu in a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga in September last year.
The panel chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers issued the order after Yang snubbed the probe yesterday, with his lawyer, Raymund Fortun, saying his client is in Dubai for a business trip.
Fortun initially told lawmakers that Yang was very busy, having left the country eight times since October last year, but Sta. Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, chair of the committee on public order and safety, found the reason unacceptable and urged the panel to subpoena Duterte’s friend to compel him to attend the next hearing.
But Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano (PL, Abang Lingkod), chair of the committee on public accounts, moved that the panel issue a show-cause order, saying it should be done first “so we will not be accused of violating due process.”
Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, chair of the committee on transportation, agreed with Paduano and the panel later voted six against one to approve Paduano’s motion.
Yang was invited to answer questions in connection with the P3.6 billion drug bust by the NBI and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) after the committee found out that Empire 999 Realty Corp., the company that owns the warehouse where the drugs were found, appears to be owned by Chinese citizens who have been previously linked to anomalous activities under the past administration.
It was through the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) port that the illegal drugs entered the country before being transported to Barangay San Jose Malino in Mexico.
The panel earlier discovered that Yang’s interpreter, Linconn Ong, a controversial figure in the Pharmally scandal, is an incorporator of a company with links to other companies, including Empire 999, owned by suspected Chinese drug lord Willie Ong whose real identity is believed is to be Cai Qimeng.
Pharmally was investigated after it cornered billions in contracts with the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), headed by then Undersecretary Christopher Lao, for the supply of medical needs during the pandemic under the Duterte administration. It was later revealed the acquisition of supplies abroad was financed by Yang.
Yang had been identified by former anti-drug law enforcement officer Col. Eduardo Acierto and whistle-blower and self-confessed former Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman Arturo Lascañas as a drug kingpin.
Barbers said Ong used a fake Filipino identity which allowed his real estate firm and associates to acquire a total of 291 titled lands in various parts of Central Luzon and Metro Manila worth several billions of pesos.
He said Ong and his Chinese associates identified as Aedi Tai Yang, Jack Tai Yang, Mischelle Santos Sy, Elaine Chua, among others, were able to register their firm with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) posing as Filipinos with spurious Filipino passports and other government-issued identification cards.
Citing data provided by the Land Registration Authority, the lawmaker said the firm Empire 999 acquired 41 titled land holdings; Ong with 59; Aedi Tai Yang with 11; Jack Tai Yang, 15; Mischelle Santos Sy, 53; Elain Chua 92; Albert Valdez Sy, 6; Na Wong, 1; Ana Ong, 5; Cai Quimeng, the Chinese name of Willie Ong, 6; and James Valdez, 2.
Barbers said he would ask the Department of Justice or any of the concerned government agencies to file an “adverse claim” against the real estate properties before the subjects could dispose or sell it in haste to protect would-be buyers.
“Ong and his associates own a total of 291 (properties) and we have to let the public know that these are questionable properties to protect anyone who will be asked to buy it,” he said.
Barbers said the panel also has to know how vast the properties are “and if these were brought in cash, through banks or if they used laundered money from proceeds from their drug business or other illegal transactions.”
Empire 999 Realty firm, Ong and his associates, have land holding acquisitions in Mexico, San Fernando, and Angeles City in Pampanga; Nueva Ecija, Cabanatuan City, Aurora Province, Bulacan, Cavite City, Tagaytay City, Iloilo City, Lingayen, Pangasinan, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Valenzuela City, Quezon City, Rizal, Muntinlupa City, Taguig City, Makati City, Malabon, Paranaque City, Manila City, Davao del Norte, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, and Tabuk, Kalinga, Apayao.
“Ong and his associates posed as Filipinos in conducting real estate business in our country and this is not allowed under our laws,” Barbers said. “And we have yet to ascertain what kind of or source of money they used in their buying spree, the real size of lands they acquired, and their value in pesos as of present.”
If the persons involved are not Filipinos, Barbers said they are prohibited by law from owning lands, including Empire 999, which is clearly not 60 percent Filipino-owned as required by the Constitution.
Barbers said the lands acquired should be “invalidated and forfeited in favor of the government.
“To date, Empire 999 Realty and its individual incorporators have amassed more or less 292 titled lands, amounting to hundreds if not thousands of hectares, in Pampanga alone,” he said.
NO RECORD
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) confirmed there is an entry for “Willie Ong” as the owner of Empire 999 Realty Corp. through a certification issued by a Local Civil Registrar in Meycauayan, Bulacan on August 31, 2001.
Barbers said the certification states that Ong was born in the municipality on May 29, 1977, 24 years before the certification was registered but the current Local Civil Registrar of Meycauayan showed there is no such record for Willie Ong and the entry specified was for another person.
“Upon the committee’s initiative, the new and acting Local Civil Registrar of Meycauayan issued a certification dated May 7, 2024 stating that no record exists under the name Willie Ong, allegedly born on May 29, 1977 with Registry No. 127 for the year 1977. Said Registry No. 127 lists another person born on a different date,” Barbers said.
He said the same Willie Ong was able to secure a Philippine passport “which he has renewed several times, the last being in July 2019, valid until 2029.
“How he was able to get one remains a mystery. At least we were able to find serious lapses in our agencies’ security systems and processes,” Barbers said.
“Upon very careful examination by the Bureau of Immigration, the Philippine passport that Willie Ong possesses was never used. However, another person of Chinese nationality with the name of Cai Qimeng, born on July 24, 1977, departed for Hong Kong on October 10, 2023, the day after we started this investigation,” he added.
