MANILA, Philippines – Michael Yang is a Chinese businessman so influential he managed to become presidential economic adviser during the time of Rodrigo Duterte. Through him, or at least according to state footage, Duterte also met one Yang associate: Lin Weixiong.
These two men figured in the Pharmally Pharmaceutical procurement anomalies during the COVID-19 pandemic, although Lin Weixiong is the only one who has been indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman. Together they co-owned a multi-million dollar property in Dubai, where they profited P390 million after cornering billions of pesos in government contracts from the Duterte-time budget department.
Here is a timeline of their Philippine activities and enterprise.
1999 – Yang reportedly arrives in the Philippines in the ’90s and first meets Duterte in Davao City in 1999.
2002 – Lin Weixiong gets a temporary resident visa in the Philippines, according to records submitted to the Senate.
2007 – Lin Weixiong meets Rose Nono Lin, who would later become his wife, according to Rose’s testimony in the Senate. Lin would get a permanent visa in 2009, according to records submitted to the Senate.
2015 – The year before Duterte wins as Philippine president, he visits one of Yang’s companies in Xiamen, China.
2016 – Yang, Lin, and an interlocking group of associates begin to build their network of companies, beginning with Xionwei Incorporated in June 2016. Xionwei becomes a POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operator) in 2018. This network would expand to as many as eight interconnected companies under Duterte, including Pharmally Pharmaceutical.
March 2017 – Pharmally executives, including Lin Weixiong, meet Duterte in Davao City. Yang is present in this meeting.
May 2017 – A police intelligence report on the alleged drug trade involvement of Yang, and a certain Allan Lim who is believed to be the same person as Lin Weixiong. Lin’s wife Rose Nono Lin denies they are one and the same person.
2018 – Yang becomes Duterte’s presidential economic adviser.
December 2018 – Former anti-drug operative Eduardo Acierto briefs Senator Richard Gordon about his intelligence report that Yang allegedly is linked to the drug trade.
April 2019 – Acierto is ordered arrested by a Manila court over a smuggled shabu case.
September 2019 – Pharmally Pharmaceutical incorporates with a very small capital of only P625,000.
March 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic hits the world, including the Philippines, where the world’s longest lockdown happens.
April 2020-June 2021 – Pharmally Pharmaceutical corners at least P8-billion worth of contracts, and bags its first contracts in April 2020.
May to June 2021 – Lin, with Yang, acquires P1.04 billion or $21-million worth of real estate properties in Dubai.
August 2021 – The country gets whiff of the anomalies after the Commission on Audit (COA) publishes its report flagging the mis-utilization by the Department of Health of pandemic funds.
September 2021 – Michael Yang becomes a subject of the Senate hearings into Pharmally, after company executives identify him as a financier. He admits to being a guarantor. Lin Weixiong, a close business associate, is dragged into the controversy.
November 2021 – Acierto, by this time already in hiding, resurfaces to repeat his accusations against Yang and Lin.
June 2022 – Duterte ends his term as president as Ferdinand Marcos Jr. takes his oath as new president.
August 2023 – The Office of the Ombudsman issues its first graft indictment against Pharmally Pharmaceutical officials. Yang and Lin are not included.
May 2024 – The Office of the Ombudsman revises its indictment to include Lin. Yang is still excluded. By this month, Yang and Lin leave the Philippines on different days.
August 2024 – Jimmy Guban, a detained former intelligence officer of the Bureau of Customs, faces the House of Representatives quad committee to link Yang one more time to the drug trade.
September 18, 2024 – Former budget undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, who signed many contracts awarded to Pharmally, is arrested over a separate, but related pandemic corruption case. He is able to post bail.
September 19, 2024 – Michael’s eldest brother, Tony Yang, is arrested on the basis of being an undesirable alien. Lawmakers describe him as the architect of a shady network of companies including his brothers, and which connect through middle brother Hongjiang, to the Alice Guo POGO enterprise.
Both the House and the Senate have indicated they will continue investigating the Yangs and their alleged involvement in criminal activities.
– Rappler.com
