FACT CHECK: Bong Go understates Duterte’s ‘link’ to Michael Yang

Trying to dissociate former president Rodrigo Duterte from criminal activities related to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go said during a Senate hearing that Chinese businessman Michael Yang has been “linked” to Duterte. This lacks context.

STATEMENT

In his closing remarks during the Sept. 9 hearing of the Senate Committee Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on the POGOs, Go said the refusal of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo to answer the questions of senators has led people to suspect that she had connections with “innocent people,” including Duterte.

The senator explained that he was not defending Duterte but instead telling the truth that the former president has always hated illegal activities. Go said:

“Noong mayor siya, binalaan niya nga mismo ‘yung parating nali-link sa kanya na si Michael Yang sa Davao. Nagne-negosyo ‘yan do’n, pumunta, early 2000s pa siguro.”

(When he was mayor, he warned the person who has always been linked to him, Michael Yang, in Davao. He had business there, he went there around the early 2000s.)

Source: Senate of the Philippines, Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality (September 9, 2024), Sept. 9, 2024, watch from 5:19:56 to 5:20:09

He added:

“Sinabihan niya ‘yan, ‘pag nag-negosyo ka ng iligal dito, ibabaon kita nang buhay dito.’ Ibig sabihin, ayaw niya po ng ilegal, si dating pangulong Duterte. Lalo na noong naging presidente po siya, ayaw niya ng ilegal sa kanyang pamumuno.”

(He told him, ‘if you do illegal business here, I will bury you alive.’ That means former president Duterte hates illegal activities. Especially when he became president, he hated illegal activities to flourish in his term.)

Source: watch from 5:20:17 to 5:20:33

FACT

Yang is not merely linked to Duterte. He was the then-president’s economic adviser in 2018. Duterte, in a public speech in October 2018, also dispelled allegations that Yang was involved in illegal drug trade.

Yang, through his lawyer Raymond Fortun, denied allegations of his ties to POGOs on July 11.

Four days later, on July 15, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, during a Senate hearing, cited documents showing that Yang’s brother, Hongjiang Yang, has done direct transactions with Baofu Land Development.

Baofu, owned by dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, leased its property to Hongsheng Gaming Technology and Zun Yuan Technology Inc., the two POGOs in Bamban, Tarlac raided by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission in February 2023 and March 2024, respectively.

The senator further alleged that Hongjiang was an incorporator of Philippine Full Win Group of Companies, which Michael Yang owns.

BACKSTORY

Duterte denied in October 2018 having appointed Yang as his economic adviser. The following month, on Nov. 6, 2018, then-chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo confirmed Yang’s position as “consultant” to Duterte.

In 2021, Yang was also implicated in the P8.68 billion Pharmally contracts, which was part of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s probe into the overpriced procurement of personal protective equipment for the COVID-19 pandemic.