Tony Yang (Photo from Senate of the Philippines/YouTube)
MANILA, Philippines — Despite Tony Yang’s confirmation that he is a Chinese citizen with a Philippine birth certificate, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Wednesday that filing criminal charges will take precedence over his deportation.
Remulla made this statement when asked whether Yang’s admission could lead to his immediate deportation to China.
“We have a choice between immediate deportation and filing of criminal cases. I think the filing of criminal cases takes precedence now,” said Remulla in a press conference.
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He said Yang is “actually a national security problem” that cannot be treated as an isolated case.
While deportation is the easiest resort, Remulla noted that it would not solve anything.
“Kailangan talaga malaman natin hanggang saan ‘yan, tsaka paparusahan talaga. It has to go with punishment para hindi na maulit. Ang deterrence kasi can only be achieved with the certainty of punishment,” he said.
(We really need to know how far he will go, and he will be really punished. It has to go with punishment so it doesn’t happen again. Deterrence can only be achieved with the certainty of punishment.)
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Yang attended the Senate panel on women’s probe into illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) on Tuesday, where he admitted to illegally acquiring Filipino citizenship to form several companies, including a steel manufacturing firm that allegedly hosted a Pogo in Misamis Oriental.
Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty, who was also present at the press conference, said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and fiscal authorities in Region 10 are checking for possible cases that might be filed against Yang.
“Mga kasong tinitingnan dito halimbawa d’yan falsification [of documents] at tsaka ‘yung use of illegal alias,” he said.
(Cases that are looked at here are, for example, falsification [of documents] and also the use of illegal aliases.)
He added that the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration, the Anti-Money Laundering Council, and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission will coordinate to investigate Yang’s businesses, including his alleged ties to POGOs.