The eldest brother of Chinese businessman Michael Yang may have been attempting to leave the Philippines when he was caught at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Thursday night, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said. 

Yang Jianxin or Antonio Lim arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City from Cagayan de Oro when authorities apprehended him around 8:30 p.m, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

BI and PAOCC officials arrested Yang based on an immigration bureau mission order.

PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, meanwhile, believes Manila was not Yang’s final destination considering he was carrying P1.4 million cash and other currencies.

“Yun ang tinitignan namin kasi medyo mainit ang trail nila. Ang tingin namin baka sumibat ito kaya inunahan na namin,” Cruz told reporters.

“Kaya siguro may dala siyang maraming pera kasi kung balak niyang umalis, siguro he will probably convert that into dollars or depende ano kasi bukod sa Philippine money meron siyang dalang ibang currency eh,” he added.

Aside from the money, Yang was also carrying Chinese passports, various Philippine-issued IDs with the name “Antonio Maestrado Lim", a Philippine-issued permit to carry firearms outside residence and a luxury watch worth more than P2 million.

Cruz said they will investigate how Yang was able to get these Philippine IDs. He said Yang is facing a deportation case for undesirability and misrepresentation.

“Nagpapanggap siyang Pilipino. Siya ay isang Chinese national na nag assume ng Pilipino name na Antonio Maestrado Lim. So, from that meron na siyang violation, 'yung tinatawag nating violation of immigration laws. Ito 'yung misrepresentation na nagpapanggap siya na Pilipino. Lumalabas na isa siyang undesirable alien,” said Cruz.

“Tinitignan kung saan kung bakit tayo nakakapaglabas ng ganung dokumento like passport like birth certificate kasi original ang mga ito. Obviously may mga contact na rin sila sa loob,” he said. 

“Aside sa problema niya sa immigration, dun sa PSA magkakaproblema siya dyan. If napatunayan natin na talagang nag-assume siya ng bagong name perhaps pwede natin siyang question-in dun sa papeles,” he added.

CONNECTION TO POGOS, OTHER ISSUES

Yang’s arrest was announced by Rep. Dan Fernandez at the tail-end of the House Quad Committee hearing this Thursday. 

Fernandez said Yang owns the Yangze Group Trade Inc. in 2000, which has been involved in importation that branched out to different corporations.

This included Yangze Rice Mill and Sanjia Steel Corporation, where he is president, according to the lawmaker.

“A lot of hundred of millions of pesos enter in this Yangze Rice Mill under the Golden Sun… which is owned also by the brother of Michael Yang, in the name of Tony Yang,” Fernandez said.

"Hindi lang sa POGO nagtatago ang ating Chinese personalities pretending to be Filipinos but also in the different corporations like this Sanjia Steel Corporation,” he added.

The lawmaker alleged that the warehouse in Sanjia Steel Corporation in Cagayan de Oro has a nearby port “where they can penetrate all the different cargos or different goods entering their premises. Diyan nila pinadadaan.”

The construction plan for the warehouse in Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corporation in Cagayan also allegedly has the same layout as those POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga.

“We have established that he owns the Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corporation wherein he is pretending to be Filipino. Fortunately, we have the documents na siya ay isang pure Chinese,” Ferandez said in a chance interview.

He also pointed out that the Yang brothers could possibly be using Cagayan de Oro as a point for drug operations and illegal smuggling.  

Michael Yang was ordered arrested by the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs in July for his repeated failure to attend its hearings into the P3.6-billion illegal drugs seized in Pampanga last year.

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Michael Yang, an economic adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has been linked to corporations allegedly connected with Empire 999 Realty Corp., which owns the warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga where the shabu was seized.

He had since denied the allegations.

“Yung pagpasok nila ng drugs dito… one of the entry point ay nangyayari dito sa Cagayan de Oro… you remember doon sa mga investigation, committee on drugs, lumilitaw na rin ang area ng Cagayan de Oro,” Fernandez said.

The lawmaker said the Quad Committee would invite Jian Xin to the hearing next week to “ask him why he was able to put up a corporation and being a Chinese national. Even yung incorporators niya ay Chinese din, how they were able to purchase yung lote doon and how they were able to put up a port.

The BI, meanwhile, said Jian Xin will be deported to China once all his pending cases in the country are resolved.