(From left) Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, arrested Chinese businessman Tony Yang aka Yang Jian Xin, and dismissed bamban Mayor Alice Guo —Photo from Bureau of Immigration; Senate PRIB; Richard A. Reyes/Inquirer files
MANILA, Philippines — The elder brother of Chinese businessman Michael Yang, former President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic adviser, is connected with the illegal online gaming facility allegedly owned by dismissed Mayor Alice Guo in her hometown of Bamban, Tarlac, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said on Saturday.
Yang Jian Xin, also known as Tony Yang, is the latest major character in government custody in the monthslong congressional inquiry into illegal activities linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) which have been exposed in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
READ: House panel hails arrest of Michael Yang’s brother
“I have seen documents connecting (Yang) to the Pogo hub in Bamban,” Gatchalian told the “Usapang Senado” program over radio dwIZ.
For next hearing
“He is involved in the Pogo operations not only in Bamban, but also in other areas,” Gatchalian added without providing details.
“This should be investigated for us to determine his possible role In the rise of Pogos here in our country,” he added. “I think this could be a new angle regarding the Bamban Pogo hub.”
Gatchalian said he would ask Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the Senate investigation of Pogos, to invite Yang to attend their hearing on Sept. 24 “because this is a new development.”
Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, had earlier said that she would be terminating the investigation after their next hearing.
Agents from Bureau of Immigration and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) arrested the 54-year-old Chinese national on Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after he arrived on a flight from Cagayan de Oro City.
Citizenship fraud
Like Guo, Yang had allegedly secured his Filipino citizenship by presenting fraudulently obtained government documents, according to Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez.
PAOCC said among those recovered from Yang were a Philippine passport and a gun permit issued to a certain Antonio Maestrado Lim, his supposed Filipino alias.
According to Gatchalian, Yang’s arrest might help them unmask the other personalities, including more Chinese nationals, behind the raided Pogo hubs in Bamban and Porac, Pampanga.
With the looming conclusion of the investigation of the Pogo complex in Bamban, he said the Senate panel should focus next on the similar sprawling gambling compound owned by Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc. in Porac.
He noted that Lucky South’s operations were as big as the multibillion-peso Pogo business of Zun Yuan Technology Inc. in Bamban.
“Our investigation on the Porac Pogo hub was discontinued after the arrest and return to the country of Guo Hua Ping,” Gatchalian said, using Guo’s alleged Chinese name.
“These two Pogos are connected. But unlike in the case of Bamban, criminal charges, such as human trafficking and money laundering, have not been filed against those behind the Porac Pogo hub,” he pointed out.
Guo’s transfer on Friday night from her Camp Crame detention cell to the jail in Pasig City, where she was charged with qualified human trafficking, had been postponed.
The Inquirer initially reported in its first edition on Saturday that she had already been transferred but authorities said at the last minute that the transfer did not push through because they were unable to complete the documentary requirements.
According to Jail Chief Inspector Jay Bustinera, the spokesperson for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Guo must present her X-ray and ECG results to ensure that she wasn’t ill.
Bustinera told the Inquirer on Friday that Guo, who is charged with a nonbailable offense, was to be detained in a cell with 40 other female inmates.
Possible espionage
The ideal capacity of the facility based on BJMP standard is 36, he said. The female dormitory currently has a total population of 135.
Guo was supposed to be detained in an isolation cell but it is occupied by tuberculosis patients, he said.
“Of course no VIP treatment. That is an established BJMP policy,” he added.
Col. Jean Fajardo, the PNP spokesperson, said on Saturday that Guo might be transferred on Monday because the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group would still need to return her arrest warrant to the Pasig Regional Trial Court.
On Friday night, Guo underwent booking and medical examination procedures at Camp Crame in Quezon City before her transfer to the Pasig City Jail.
Since her arrest this month, Guo has stayed at the PNP custodial center, the same detention cell where former Sen. Leila de Lima was held for almost seven years.
It is a white-walled room with a single bed, comfort room and an electric fan but has no air conditioning. No cell phone and air pods would be allowed, Fajardo earlier told reporters.
Hontiveros said in a news forum with foreign correspondents on Friday that she would not rule out Guo’s possible involvement in espionage.
Some officials had suspected that Guo might be a Chinese agent deployed to infiltrate the Philippine government, a suspicion that has been fueled by the escalation of the maritime conflict between Manila and Beijing.
Message from Marcos
“I’m not yet prepared to conclude that she is not involved, or that the people associated with her are not involved in espionage,” Hontiveros said.
In earlier hearings, Hontiveros had asked Guo if she was an “asset” for China. Guo, who maintains she is a natural-born Philippine citizen, has denied she is a spy, and rejected other accusations against her, calling them malicious.
Bamban mayor since 2022, she was removed from office by the Ombudsman last month for grave misconduct. She also faces a money laundering complaint at the Department of Justice.
President Marcos has urged Guo to disclose how Pogos targeting customers in China, where gambling is illegal, had branched into crime.
“In the case of the rise of Pogos and of people like Guo Hua Ping, we have seen numerous and deep links to transnational crime syndicates that have victimized not only our own citizens here in the Philippines, but also citizens from across the world,” Hontiveros said.
“It’s bigger than the Philippines,” she said, adding that the Senate’s probe had “only started to scratch the surface.” —with reports from Nestor Corrales