Who are Michael Yang and Lin Weixiong and why are they being investigated?

MANILA, Philippines – Michael Yang is a Chinese businessman so influential that he managed to become a presidential economic advisor under Rodrigo Duterte. Through him, or at least according to state footage, Duterte also met a Yang associate: Lin Weixiong.

These two men figured in Pharmaceutical pharmaceutical procurement anomalies during the COVID-19 pandemic, although Lin Weixiong is the only one who has been indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman. Together they co-owned a million dollars property in Dubaiwhere they profited P390 million after getting billions of pesos in government contracts from the Duterte-era budget department.

Here is a timeline of their Philippine activities and enterprise.

1999 – Yang arrives in the Philippines in the 90s and first meets Duterte in Davao City in 1999.

2002 – Lin Weixiong obtains a temporary resident visa in the Philippines, according to records submitted to the Senate.

2007 – Lin Weixiong meets Rose Nono Lin, who would later become his wife, according to Rose’s Senate testimony. Lin was expected to obtain a permanent visa in 2009, according to documents submitted to the Senate.

2015 – A year before Duterte won as Philippine president, he visits one of Yang’s companies in Xiamen, China.

2016 – Yang, Lin and an interconnected group of associates begin building their network of companies, starting with Xionwei Incorporated in June 2016. Xionwei becomes a POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) in 2018. This network would expand to eight interconnected companies under Duterte, including Pharmally Pharmaceutical.

March 2017 – Pharmaceutical executives, including Lin Weixiong, meet with Duterte in Davao City. Yang is present in this meeting.

May 2017 – A police intelligence report on the alleged involvement in the drug trade of Yang and a certain Allan Lim who is believed to be the same person as Lin Weixiong. Lin’s wife, Rose Nono Lin, denies they are one and the same person.

2018 – Yang becomes Duterte’s presidential economic adviser.

December 2018 – Former narcotics agent Eduardo Acierto briefs Senator Richard Gordon on his intelligence report that Yang is connected to the drug trade.

April 2019 – Acierto is ordered arrested by a Manila court in a Shabu smuggling case.

September 2019 – Incorporate pharmaceutical pharmaceutical with very little capital of only 625,000 lei.

March 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the whole world, including the Philippines, where the longest lockdown in the world is taking place.

April 2020-June 2021 – pharmaceutical pharmaceutical corners Contracts worth at least P8 billion, and close their first contracts in April 2020.

May until June 2021 – Lin, together with Yang, acquires real estate in Dubai worth 1.04 billion lei or 21 million dollars.

August 2021 – The country smells anomalies after the Commission on Audit (COA) publishes its report reporting the Department of Health’s misuse of pandemic funds.

September 2021 – Michael Yang becomes the subject of Senate hearings in Pharmally after company executives identify him as a financier. He acknowledges that he is a guarantor. Lin Weixiong, a close business associate, is dragged into the controversy.

November 2021 – Acierto, for now already hidden, reappears on the surface to repeat his accusations against Yang and Lin.

June 2022 – Duterte ends his term as president when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is sworn in as the new president.

August 2023 – Office of the People’s Advocate issues his first indictment for corruption against pharmaceutical officials. Yang and Lin are not included.

May 2024 – Office of the People’s Advocate revises his indictment to include Lin. Yang is still out. Until this month, Yang and Lin leave the Philippines on different days.

August 2024 – Jimmy Gubana detained former intelligence officer of the Bureau of Customs, faces the House of Representatives subcommittee on Yang link once again to drug trafficking.

September 18, 2024 – Former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, who signed many contracts awarded to Pharmally, is arrested in a separate but related case of pandemic corruption. He can post bail.

September 19, 2024 – Michael’s older brother Tony Yang is custody on the basis that he is an unwanted alien. Parliamentarians describe him as righteous architect of a shadow network of companies, including its siblings, and connecting through middle brother Hongjiang, at Alice Guo POGO Enterprise.

Both the House and Senate have indicated they will continue to investigate Yang and their alleged involvement in criminal activities.

– Rappler.com