'Michael Yang a key actor in Chinese intel ops in Phl'

The economic adviser of former president Rodrigo Duterte was directly involved in Chinese intelligence operations in the Philippines and possibly in other illegal activities as well like the drug trade, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said yesterday as her committee concluded its investigation on Philippine offshore and gaming operators (POGO) being used as fronts by criminal syndicates.

- CECILLE SUERTE FELIPE

"Michael Yang is a key actor in Chinese intelligence operations here," Hontiveros said, referring to Duterte's economic adviser who went into hiding after his alleged criminal links were exposed.

"He was the economic adviser of the former president. They've exploited us and betrayed us," she said during the 16th and last hearing of the Senate committee on women, children and family relations, which she chairs.

The senator also linked Yang to Pharmally, the under-capitalized firm that bagged the billion-peso contract to supply the country with face masks and other protective health kits at the height of the pandemic.

She also cited the activities of a "web of people who used POGOs for their personal gains, for their selfish interest at the expense of the Filipino people."

"POGO is a monster, this photo was given to us by one of our key informants and it further deepens what we already know," she said as she presented images of 20 individuals, including Duterte, Alice Guo and Yang.

Hontiveros said the Senate probe has exposed the real nature of POGO as nothing more than a Trojan horse.

"The POGOs brought us nothing but nightmares," she said.

Despite the many heinous crimes unearthed by the committee, including large-scale scamming, corruption, kidnapping, torture, prostitution and human trafficking, Hontiveros clarified that their objective has never been to prove any single individual guilty.