PDEA matrix ties Duterte allies to people allegedly involved in drug trade
House of Representatives Quad-Committee | File photo from the Official Facebook page of the House of Representatives
MANILA, Philippines — A new matrix released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) showed links between the allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte and people accused of involvement in the illegal drug trade.
PDEA Deputy Director for Operations Assistant Secretary Renato Gumban, in his presentation before the House of Representatives’ quad committee hearing on Wednesday, name-dropped Senator Bong Go as having ties with the Allan Lin or Lin Weixiong.
Lin is the husband of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation incorporator Rose Nono Lin who was accused of operating clandestine shabu laboratories.
Aside from Go, Gumban said that their investigation also showed Chinese businessman Michael Yang as connected to the Lin couple.
Go was Duterte’s special assistant, while Yang was the former presidential economic adviser.
Article continues after this advertisement“Rose Nono Lin and Michael Yang are also co-incorporators of a certain Allan Lin in Paili Holdings Incorporation. Allan Lin is the husband of Rose Nono Lin,” Gumban said.
Article continues after this advertisement“A reliable informant of [PDEA] certainly identified that Allan Lin, or Allan Jeffrey Lin, also uses several other identities,” he disclosed.
“According to this informant, Allan Lin is a close friend of then special assistant to the president, Christopher Bong Go,” Gumban told lawmakers.
“Allan Lin is a casino junket operator who is involved in the kidnapping of high roller Chinese gamblers in Okada Manila. Allan Lin or Weixiong Lin was involved in a case involving illegal drugs, but this case was dismissed in 2015,” he added.
The PDEA official also mentioned the report of former police colonel Eduardo Acierto — that Allan Lin, Yang, and Yang’s brother Tony Yang were allegedly part of a drug group, particularly of the Johnson Chua Drug Trafficking Organization.
“Johnson Chua is allegedly responsible for operating a drug warehouse in Cagayan de Oro City, the shabu clandestine laboratory raided by PDEA in Davao City in 2004, and another shabu laboratory in Bunawan, Davao City,” Gumban said.
“Michael Yang handled shipping requirements for Johnson Chua, while Allan Lin — who was connected to Yang — operated a clandestine shabu laboratory in Cavite,” he pointed out.
“Yang Jian Xin, also known as Tony Yang […], is a sibling of Michael Yang,” he said.
“Tony Yang is allegedly the owner of a Pogo in Cagayan de Oro City, and affiliated to Mr. Johnson Chua, the same Chua who is a known smuggler and implicated in the dismantled clandestine shabu laboratory in Dumoy, Davao City, in 2004,” Gumban explained.
This is not the first time that Lin and Yang were accused of involvement in the illegal drug trade.
When the Senate of the 18th Congress investigated the alleged overpriced pandemic supplies provided by Pharmally to the government, Lin’s past as an alleged drug suspect was brought up.
According to Pharmally secretary and treasurer Mohit Dargani, Lin is the company’s financial manager.
Lin’s wife and associates, however, denied these allegations.
READ: Dargani confirms Lin Wei Xiong’s post as Pharmally’s financial manager
Then last August 2024, Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, co-chairperson of the quad committee and head of the House committee on public order and safety, presented a matrix linking the warehouse owners to the illegal drug trade.
READ: Solons’ matrix links Yang, Pharmally to Pampanga warehouse owners, drugs
Yang has been invited several times to the hearings, but he has yet to show up.
Rose Nono Lin, meanwhile, asked to be excused at the quad committee hearing, saying that she has an urgent family matter to attend to.
READ: House panel asks Yang on his absence from P3.6B illegal drugs haul probe
The PDEA launched its investigation after the House committee on dangerous drugs investigation of the P3.6 billion illegal drugs shipped to a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga.
This hearing was one of the origins of the quad committee, as the discovery of Chinese owning the warehouse and the other parcels of lands — including those where Pogo hubs sit — prompted a joint hearing.
Aside from the committee on dangerous drugs and the committee on public order and safety, the committee on human rights and committee on public accounts form part of the quad committee.
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