THE Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, the deportation of former presidential adviser for economic affairs Michael Yang and two others over their alleged involvement in anomalies in the procurement of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) supplies.
In its partial report on its investigation on the alleged misuse of pandemic funds of the Department of Health (DOH), the committee said Yang violated multiple laws in the country, including tax evasion under Republic Act (RA) 8424, or the National Internal Revenue Tax Code, which justifies the filing of criminal charges against him and for him to be declared as an undesirable alien.
“Despite decades of lucrative and peaceful sojourn in our country, his care is not for others who had not only been hospitable to him, but also even allowed him to amass great wealth,” the report stated.
“He has no healthy respect for law for he had always been sheltered by the mayor, and now the chief executive of the land. He displays arrogance during hearings, evincing a lack of respect for authority,” it added.
The committee said Yang currently owns several multi-million properties across the country, including Davao mall chain DCLA, and other buildings in Manila and Clark, Pampanga, but he refused to disclose the source of his funds and business interest for fear that “he will lose customers.”
It said Yang also denied links with the embattled Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corporation despite having it proven through a notarized document signed by the firm’s treasurer Mohit Dargani and financial manager Lin Weixiong, who were both his close allies.
“It seems to become clearer that his role might not be that of a mere financier; but this ‘pagador’ has played a role in this scandal more than that of a mere financier. He refuses to tell the committee the source of his money, the extent of his businesses and holdings, how much taxes he has paid,” read the report.
“He prevaricates at the drop of a hat: instructing his people not to admit that he lives in a Forbes Park address, thus frustrating the subpoena service; initially he avers that he had no more dealings with Pharmally after the 2017 Davao introductions, only to admit later that indeed he introduced Pharmally to his friends,” it added.
Yang has been in hot water for allegedly serving as a “middle man” between the government and Pharmally, a start-up company in the country with paid-up capital of only P625,000 but bagged over P8.6 billion of contracts from the Procurement Service-Department of Budget Management (PS-DBM) for the procurement of pandemic supplies intended for the DOH.
Despite allegedly offering a higher price as compared to other bidders, PS-DBM awarded the contracts to Pharmally for the purchase of face masks, face shield, Covid-19 antigen test kits and PPEs due to the influence of Yang. This, however, was earlier denied by Yang.
Pharmally owner Huang Tzu Yen earlier admitted that Yang lends them money so they can fulfill their contract with the government.
The committee also recommended the filing of charges against Yang for plunder, graft, perjury and violation of the Bayanihan law.
In response, Yang’s legal counsel Raymond Fortun said the committee report does not have a legal basis and was "done not in aid of legislation but solely for reelection."
"Mr. Yang looks forward to the report being handled by an impartial investigation body that would decide the case based on actual evidence instead of hallucinations," he said.
The committee has also recommended the deportation of Lin Weixiong and Qing Jin Ke.
Weixiong is Yang’s business partner, who also served as Pharmally’s financial manager for his protection.
“As Pharmally’s finance manager, Pharmally granted Lin Weixiong the extraordinary corporate authority to, among others, freely withdraw funds from Pharmally’s Asia United Bank account. Huang Tzu Yen, however, admitted that Lin Weixiong was purposely installed in order to ensure Pharmally’s payments to Michael Yang,” the report said.
“His presence in Pharmally bolsters the belief that Michael Yang indeed controlled and earned billions from Pharmally transactions despite his name not appearing anywhere -- and despite Rose Nono Lin’s (wife of Lin) past assertions that they had nothing to do with Pharmally Pharmaceuticals,” it added.
Qing, on the other hand, is the owner of Tigerphil Marketing Corporation, one of the suppliers of face masks of Pharmally. He was recommended for deportation over tax evasion.
Senator Franklin Drilon earlier flagged the under-declared taxable income of TigerPhil Marketing, saying the firm paid P2,234 for their taxable income of P7,447 in 2017, while they paid P91,774 worth of taxes in 2018 for taxable income of P305,913.
TigerPhil declared a taxable income of P235,172 and P129,742 in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
It also paid P70,552 and P38,923 worth of taxes in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
For the year 2020, the company amended its taxable income to P3,263,671 and paid tax amounting to P1.138,680.05.
After being grilled during a committee hearing in September 2020, the company amended its annual income tax for 2020 to P1.1 million from its initial payment of P553,000.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said based on their financial statement in 2020, they declared their sales only at P3.4 million when it should be around P21 million, including their transactions with Pharmally. (SunStar Philippines)