House panel asks Yang on his absence from P3.6B illegal drugs haul probe

Former Presidential Economic Adviser Michael Yang —MALACAÑANG file photo

MANILA, Philippines — A House of Representatives panel has issued a show-cause order against former Presidential Economic Adviser Michael Yang.

The directive comes after only his lawyer was present during the hearing on a September 2023 drug bust in Pampanga.

At the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs hearing on Wednesday, committee chairperson and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers approved the motion asking Yang to explain why he failed to attend the hearing.

Yang used to be an adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte.

He was asked to appear in the hearing after it was discovered that Empire 999, the company that owns the warehouse where the shabu was found, was partly owned by Lincoln Ong.

Ong is Yang’s translator.

Ong was previously dragged in the government’s allegedly anomalous procurement of health supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.

Before the panel agreed to issue a show-cause order against Yang, Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez claimed that a subpoena should be released, and not a show-cause order.

Fernandez argued that Yang’s lawyer Raymond Fortun had already stated the reason why Yang is absent from the hearing, as he is in Dubai for a business trip.

READ: House panel orders Pampanga warehouse owner to attend probe on drug case 

Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano and Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop — chairpersons of the House committee on public accounts and the transportation committee — however, said traditionally, a show-cause order is issued first before a subpoena.

Fernandez eventually agreed after the majority of the panel’s members preferred the issuance of a show-cause order first.

“It seems that the committee members have already given their vote on whether a show-cause order or a subpoena will be issued,” Barbers said before approving the motion.

The committee has “six members present who stated that a show-cause order must first be issued before a subpoena,” he added.

Paduano, meanwhile, asked the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to show the entry and exit records of Yang.

The request comes after Fortun mentioned that the businessman went in and out of the country eight times since October 2023.

“Since Atty. Fortun has stated that Mr. Michael Yang has traveled eight times this year […] since October 2023 until now, he traveled eight times,” Paduno said.

“So then, Mr. Chairman, I move that we request the Bureau of Immigration to submit to this committee the travel record of Mr. Michael Yang,” he added.

Barbers also approved the motion.

READ: Rodrigo Duterte’s adviser Yang to be invited to House drug probe 

Illegal drugs worth over P3.6 billion were seized in the Pampanga warehouse late September 2023.

The items were discovered after the Bureau of Customs and other agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency allowed a shipment from Thailand to be delivered from the Port of Subic.

READ: P3.6-B worth of shabu seized in Pampanga warehouse 

Authorities then tracked it down to a warehouse under the name of a so-called Empire 999 Realty Corporation, which is owned by a certain Willy Ong.

However, during the earlier hearing, Barbers revealed that the identity of this “Willy Ong” is said to be fictitious.