MANILA — The brother of the Duterte administration’s presidential economic adviser Michael Yang has been apprehended at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on Thursday night.
Yang Jian Xin, also known as Tony Yang, was arrested by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI), with assistance from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), for being an undesirable alien.
According to PAOCC undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, Tony will face deportation and blacklisting upon the resolution of all his pending cases in the Philippines.
Cruz added he believed that the Philippines was not Tony’s final destination as he was carrying P1.4 million cash, Chinese passports, various Philippine-issued IDs with the name “Antonio Maestrado Lim”, a Philippine-issued permit to carry firearms outside residence and a luxury watch worth more than P2 million.
“’Yun ang tinitignan namin kasi medyo mainit ang trail nila. Ang tingin namin baka sumibat ito kaya inunahan na namin,” Cruz told the media after the arrest.
He added: “Kaya siguro may dala siyang maraming pera kasi kung balak niyang umalis, siguro he will probably convert that into dollars or depende ano kasi bukod sa Philippine money meron siyang dalang ibang currency eh.”
Cruz said they will investigate how Yang was able to get these Philippine IDs. He said Yang is facing a deportation case for undesirability and misrepresentation.
“Nagpapanggap siyang Pilipino. Siya ay isang Chinese national na nag-assume ng Pilipino name na Antonio Maestrado Lim. So, from that meron na siyang violation, ‘yung tinatawag nating violation of immigration laws,” said Cruz.
He added: “Tinitignan kung saan kung bakit tayo nakakapaglabas ng ganung dokumento like passport, birth certificate kasi original ang mga ito. Obviously may mga contact na rin sila sa loob.”
“Aside sa problema niya sa immigration, dun sa PSA magkakaproblema siya dyan. If napatunayan natin na talagang nag-assume siya ng bagong name perhaps pwede natin siyang question-nin dun sa papeles,” he further said.
Tony is said to own the Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation, which has a warehouse that was constructed in 2018 in Cagayan de Oro, the same time the POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac Pampanga were being built.
Tony was previously invited to the House hearing in connection with the POGO at the Alwana compound in Cagayan de Oro, which he also owned.
His brother Hongjiang Yang was alleged to have direct transactions with Baofu Land Development, which is a company of dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo.
Meanwhile, Michael, former economic adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte, has also been linked to illegal POGOs./PN
