Michael Yang’s brother may be a Chinese agent – Hontiveros

Metro Manila, Philippines – At least one brother of Chinese businessman Michael Yang, who served as an economic adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte, may be a Chinese spy, Senator Risa Hontiveros said according to her information.

“I have persuasive information that the file of at least one Yang brother is with [self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang], confirming that Yang brother is a foreign agent,” Hontiveros said in a hearing on illegal offshore gaming operations on Tuesday.

Yang’s older brother, Yang Jianxin, also known as Tony Yang, has been under Senate investigation after she was arrested for allegedly misrepresenting as a Filipino and falsifying documents. The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission reported that he has a number of businesses in Cagayan de Oro, including his own POGO operation.

Another brother, Hongjiang Yang, was found to have financial transactions with Baofu Land, the former company of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, which leased land to the POGO hub in the municipality.

The Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality, which is leading the investigation, now wants to speak with She Zhijiang, a controversial gambling tycoon currently imprisoned in Thailand who has claimed to be a Chinese spy.

“Kaya’t napaka importante po [na] makapag establish ng communication kay She sa pamamagitan ng Thai government sa ilalim ng mutual assistance treaty dahil mukhang ‘yung buong gobyerno natin, hindi lang kami sa legislature, [maging] kayo sa executive [ay] may makukuhang importanteng impormasyon para sa proteksyon ng ating gobyerno laban sa ganitong foreign covert operations,” committee chairperson Hontiveros said.

[Translation: This is why it’s very important to establish communication with She through the Thai government under the Mutual Assistance Treaty because it seems that our entire government—not just us in the legislature, but even those of you in the executive—can obtain important information to protect our government against these kinds of foreign covert operations.]

Tony Yang, through a translator, denied knowing She. Pressed by Hontiveros, he said neither he nor his brother are “assets of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“I know that a revelation on the Yangs, the Yang brothers is forthcoming when the government reaches She Zhijiang,” Hontiveros said.