Senate panel asks DOJ to issue HDO or watchlist order vs Yang
Michael Yang —SENATE PRIB file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate blue ribbon committee has formally requested to the Department of Justice (DOJ) that former presidential adviser Michael Yang be placed on either the immigration watchlist or lookout bulletin or be issued with a hold departure order (HDO).
“We would like to request that Mr. Michael Yang a.k.a Yang Hong Min…be placed on the Bureau of Immigration Hold Departure Order, Watch List, or Lookout Bulletin, whichever is appropriate, and that the Committee be informed whenever he is about to leave, or whenever he arrives from without the country,” read a Sept. 13 letter penned by Senator Richard Gordon addressed to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.
This request from the Senate committee, which Gordon chairs, came after Yang was a no-show during Monday’s committee hearing on the government’s pandemic purchases in 2020.
Yang’s lawyer told senators that the Chinese businessman was advised by his doctor to be on bed rest for five days after his blood pressure “shot up.”
Yang first appeared in the committee’s investigation last week after an arrest warrant was issued against him. He was already subpoenaed twice before this.
The Senate blue ribbon committee is currently investigating the procurement of “overpriced” personal protective equipment, face masks, and shields made by the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service on behalf of the Department of Health in 2020.
At the center of the probe is Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., which bagged government contracts worth over P8.6 billion in 2020 despite being only several months old and having just P625,000 in paid-up capital.
Yang was linked to the controversial procurement after a 2017 video showed him introducing Pharmally officials to President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City.
During last week’s hearing, Pharmally president Huang Tzu Yen admitted his firm borrowed money from Yang to help them fulfill some of the government’s medical supply orders last year.
