MANILA, Philippines – Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros questioned Tony Yang on Tuesday regarding a photo of him alongside former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Benjamin Acorda Jr.

Tony Yang is the elder brother of Michael Yang, the former presidential economic adviser to Rodrigo Duterte.

During the Senate’s ongoing inquiry into illegal POGO hubs, photos were presented showing Tony Yang with three men. Yang explained that one of the men in the photo is Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr., who served as PNP chief from April 2023 to March 2024.

“Pwede nyo bang ipaliwanag ang litratong ito. Meeting po ba yan? Sino ang mga kasama at ano ang pinag-usapan nyo?” Hontiveros asked.

“This photo is not actually a meeting. It’s just us visiting the head of police in Cagayan during that time who is seated in the center… So my English is not very fluent but I call him Acola or Acoda,” Yang said in Chinese.

Hontiveros later questioned whether Yang had known Acorda for a long time, showing another older photo of them together. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada suggested that the second photo was taken when Acorda was still the regional police director of Cagayan province.

“Matagal na po ba kayong magkakilala?” Hontiveros asked.

“Yes, when he was still in Cagayan as the director, we knew each other,” Yang replied.

POGOs Link to Pharmally

Hontiveros also revealed that Tony Yang heads a company providing services for a POGO hub connected to a Pharmally executive. Yang denied the accusation.

“Right now I don’t have any business related to Pogo,” Yang stated.

“I’m not really sure of the name of the company, perhaps during that time, they needed a business permit,” Yang added in response to allegations that he was the president of Oro One Corporation, the purported service provider of a POGO hub called “Xionwei.”

Hontiveros claimed that Xionwei is the reverted name of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation’s Lin Weixion, also known as Alan Lim, who was involved in a scandal regarding COVID-19 supplies procured during the Duterte administration.

Pharmally was previously investigated by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for its alleged irregular business dealings with the government.

“Why are you posing as a Filipino?”

Hontiveros also presented Tony Yang’s Philippine birth certificate to the Senate panel, which she chairs.

“This is your birth certificate here in the Philippines — also [acquired through] late registration. This was registered in 2004. So just 15 or 16 years after you arrived here. That means you were already 34 years old when your birth certificate was registered. You recognize this?” Hontiveros asked, partly in Filipino.

“I actually cannot understand English. What I remember is that when I was here, when I was two to three years old, [it was] my grandfather who helped me come up with this birth certificate,” Yang explained through a translator.

Hontiveros expressed suspicion that Yang’s birth certificate may be forged, similar to anomalies discovered on the birth certificates of Cassandra Ong and former Bamban mayor Alice Guo.

“We will ask the Philippine Statistics Authority to investigate if, like theirs, your Philippine birth certificate is also irregular – because it appears the birth certificate is fake. Mr. Yang, as you said, you are a Chinese national. You have no Philippine passport, why are you posing as a Filipino?” Hontiveros questioned.

Yang, however, said he was unaware of the specifics and claimed that his grandfather had processed the document so he could establish a business in the Philippines.

📷 Sen. Risa Hontiveros