The House of Representatives has ordered the arrest and detention of former presidential adviser Michael Yang for repeated failure to appear at its hearings on his alleged involvement in a P3.6-billion drug bust in Mexico, Pampanga in 2023.
House Secretary General Reginald Velasco earlier signed the contempt order issued by the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs against Yang following the latter’s utter disregard of summons served to him by the panel.
House Sergeant-at-Arms, Napoleon Taas and his team, served the arrest order for Yang at Fortun-Law Offices at 134 CRM Avenue, BF Homes Almanza, Las Piñas City but to no avail.
Yang was an economic adviser of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte. He has been linked to an incorporator of Empire 999 Realty Corp., which owns the warehouse in Mexico town, where P3.6 billion worth of shabu was seized.
During a hearing on July 10, the House panel determined that Yang had violated paragraph (a) of Section 11 of the Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation of the 19th Congress, which refers to “refusal without legal excuse to obey summons.”
The House panel, chaired by Surigao 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, also ordered Yang’s detention at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City for 30 days, pursuant to Section 12 of the same rules.
In a press conference, Barbers said Yang might have already fled the country. “We were informed that subject of arrest is no longer here. The last information we have is that he is in Dubai,” he shared.
Barbers said his committee will coordinate with the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Foreign Affairs to alert other countries about the arrest order, “so that we will be able to track where he is because he may have gone from place to place,” he added.
Yang was invited to the hearing after Lincoln Ong, a Pharmally official and an alleged associate of Yang, was found to be an incorporator of a company with links to Empire 999 and other firms.
Barbers said Yang’s testimony is deemed crucial in unraveling the complex web of illegal drug smuggling activities linked to Empire 999. In one of the previous hearings, former Philippine National Police (PNP) Col. Eduardo Acierto identified Yang as the same person he had flagged in 2017 for involvement in illegal drugs.
Acierto, who formerly worked with the PNP’s drug enforcement group, claimed that former President Duterte, then-Special Adviser to the President and now Senator Christopher Go, and then-PNP chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, ignored his intelligence report on Yang.
He also accused the former president of wanting him killed due to his knowledge of Duterte’s links with Yang and other those involved in illegal drugs. (With PNA)
