BI confirms bail application for Yang but says approval not guaranteed

Tony Yang during the House quad committee hearing–HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PHOTO

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) confirmed on Monday that a petition had been filed to grant bail to detained businessman Tony Yang, believed to be one of the central figures behind the proliferation of the Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) industry in the country.

“The Bureau of Immigration confirms that an application for bail on behalf of Tony Yang was filed on Dec. 16, based on a Dec. 4 medical certification issued by the Medical and Dental Services of the House of Representatives,” the BI said in a statement.

“While filing for bail is a right under due process, it does not guarantee approval,” it added, saying that “previous applications have not been considered, and Yang’s current application is expected to be evaluated with the same rigorous standard.”

The BI however, did not specify who filed the application and for what reason the medical certificate was issued. A news report earlier this month quoted Yang’s lawyer as saying that he was taken to a hospital for a lung ailment, just days after his first motion for bail was denied.

According to BI, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has physical custody of Yang, while it has legal custody. It said the two agencies were coordinating with each other and other agencies to “[uphold] the principles of justice and accountability.”

The BI issued the statement after Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she had heard that some of its officials tried to seek bail for Yang.

“We have seen plenty of evidence proving his abuse of Philippine policies, and yet, he will be released? We have seen how easy it was for Guo Hua Ping to slip out,” Hontiveros said, referring to former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo by her supposed Chinese name.

“Do they believe that Tony Yang will obey the law?” she added.

Yang is the older brother of Michael Yang, the former economic adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte. His companies had been linked supposedly to various criminal activities, including illegal offshore gaming, human trafficking, rice smuggling and drugs, based on an ongoing investigation being conducted by the House of Representatives.

READ: 2024, the year of reckoning for Pogos, IGLs

Fake Pinoy

Also known as Yang Jian Xin, Yang was arrested on Sept. 19 by agents from BI and the PAOCC at Ninoy Aquino International Airport after he arrived from Cagayan de Oro City.

He is facing a deportation case for undesirability and misrepresentation, after allegedly misrepresenting himself as a Filipino and falsifying information in the registration of Philippine Sanjia Corp., a steel company he had set up in Cagayan de Oro.

Seized from him were a Philippine passport and a gun permit issued to a certain Antonio Maestrado Lim, his supposed Filipino alias.

Criminal case

Hontiveros, chair of the Senate committee on women, children family relations and gender equality who has led an investigation of the criminal activities behind Pogos, said that Yang should stay in jail.

“If indeed he needs medical attention, this can be given to him, but he should remain under government custody,” she said.

In the Senate hearings on illegal Pogos conducted after his arrest, Yang denied any connection to Pogos but admitted to being a Chinese national who illegally acquired Filipino citizenship to establish companies in the country and secure documents issued only to Filipinos, such as a gun license, a tax identification number and a birth certificate. He said he had been doing business in Cagayan de Oro City since 1998.

In October, the National Bureau of Investigation in Northern Mindanao filed 16 complaints against Yang. The complaints included falsification of public documents, perjury, and violation of a 1936 law that required judicial authority before any person can use an alias, except as a pseudonym for literary purposes. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH INQ