DURING the last Quad Committee hearing, ex-mayor Jed Mabilog delivered a crucial testimony directly implicating former President Rodrigo Duterte in extrajudicial killings.
For reason that he didn’t support him during the 2016 presidential elections, he’s included in Duterte’s infamous narco-list, effectively making him and his family targets during the bloody drug war.
Now, the Quad Committee is once again inviting Duterte to come forward at the next hearing with explanations. However, he has since refused to come forward since the hearings begun, cowering behind the inter-parliamentary courtesy alibi.
Duterte probably thinks he can play the long game, dragging this out until we all are too tired or distracted to care.
But he’s wrong – especially now that more evidence is being uncovered by the QuadCom.
Just last September 19, Tony Yang, eldest brother to Duterte’s favorite economic adviser, Michael Yang, was arrested at NAIA for misrepresenting himself as a Filipino and falsifying information in government documents.
Tony Yang is also believed to be involved in the illegal POGO in Bamban, Tarlac, as well as in illegal activities such as drug trafficking and smuggling being a port operator in Cagayan de Oro.
His company, Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation, is suspected of being a front for smuggling contraband into the Philippines.
Well to note that the PHIVIDEC estate, where these shady operations took place, was allegedly managed by Franklin Quijano, a loyal supporter of Duterte who’s rewarded with a government post as chairman of the National Commission of Senior Citizens.
This network of Duterte allies operating in positions of power while turning a blind eye to criminal activity paints a disturbing picture of the Duterte’s regime.
Tony Yang’s arrest is a breakthrough because it’ll finally expose the criminal syndicate hiding behind so-called ‘legitimate’ businesses.
And it’s closing in on Michael Yang, who’s been linked to a P3.6- billion drug bust, the Pharmally scandal for financing the company that won the bid for pandemic contracts despite having insufficient capital, as well as shady dealings involving illegal POGOs and EJKs under Duterte’s brutal drug war.
This is why Tony Yang’s arrest was really a significant one. With all the evidence that’s coming – with Mabilog’s testimony and the arrest of Michael Yang’s brother, it’s time Duterte answers all the allegations.
