Chinese businessman and older brother of Michael Yang, the former economic adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte, Tony Yang (also known as Yang Jian Xin and Antonio Maestrado Lim), denied that his many businesses are involved in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) during the latest Quad Committee hearing on September 27, 2024. Despite his claims of innocence, testimonies, and evidence points to a complex web of deceit that raises serious questions about how Chinese businessmen flourished under the Duterte administration.
Yang Jian Xin is the Chinese name of Tony Yang, while Antonio Maestrado Lim is the name listed on the Philippine birth certificate that Tony Yang secured. He has several business entities registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) using his Philippine birth certificate. Surprisingly, Yang admitted that the Philippine birth certificate was fake, which he obtained a few years after he arrived in the Philippines.
Tony Yang has been secretly operating in Cagayan de Oro (CDO) for over twenty years. Currently, Yang has an illegal POGO located in the Yangze building at Alwana Business Park, CDO, and a PhP800 million steel manufacturing plant, called the Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation, in Misamis Oriental. Yang is listed as the majority stockholder and corporate officer of OroOne Incorporated, a POGO service provider registered with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). However, Yang denied this by claiming that he was merely a dummy for the owner who rented his Yangze building.
This setup is very similar to the POGO arrangements of Alice Guo and Cassie Ong, with Alice’s Baofu Land Development leasing to Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc./Zun Yuan Technology Inc. in Bamban, Tarlac, and Cassie’s Whirlwind Corporation leasing to Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga. It is evident that these are parallel operations—albeit in different locations—and they suggest a complex network of crime syndicates with interconnected Chinese personalities involved.
Moving on to Yang’s Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation, it was revealed that it operates on the 3,000-hectare industrial compound of the Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corporation (Phividec) in Baluarte, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. The Memorandum of Understanding with Phividec, which allowed Sanjia Steel to lease the property for only PhP30 per square meter for 25 years, was signed in 2018 when Rodrigo Duterte was still the President. Sanjia Steel, which has its wharf, has also been revealed to have been used as an entry point for illegal drugs, smuggled rice, and other goods into the country. Previous hearings have already connected Michael Yang, former President Duterte, and their associates to the illegal drug trade in the Philippines. This unregulated shipping port provided a means for them to move tons of imported illegal drugs into the country, appearing to be a major entry point for drugs in Mindanao.
Aside from these questionable businesses, Tony Yang has also been linked to shady Chinese businessman, Lin Weixiong/Allan Lim. Tony Yang’s OroOne is the service provider for Xionwei Technology Co. Ltd., a POGO licensee. Rose Nono Lin, the wife of Lin Weixiong/Allan Lim, is an incorporator and stockholder of Xionwei. She is the same person involved in the controversial Pharmally scandal in 2021 that raised questions about how an unknown company with minimal capitalization was able to secure government contracts worth billions and exposed issues, such as overpriced and substandard quality of the medical supplies meant for healthcare workers. Meanwhile, Michael Yang acted as financier and guarantor for Pharmally and had previously introduced Pharmally officials to Duterte in Davao City.
While Tony Yang and so many other shady Chinese businessmen have been operating under the radar for many years, they started to thrive and become bold during Duterte’s administration. Duterte empowered these illegal operators through his pro-China policies. Duterte protected them and allowed for illegal businesses like illegal POGOs and illegal drugs to proliferate. Currently, the only case filed against Tony Yang is a violation of immigration laws for the fake Philippine birth certificate. However, with all these emerging connections and interlocking personalities, it is only a matter of time before this whole web of lies is exposed—including the mastermind behind it all.