ANOTHER business of controversial Chinese businessman Tony Yang is on the spotlight.
The House of Representatives’ Quad Committee on September 27 questioned the continued operation of the Misor Sand and Gravel Corporation which is located just beside the wharf being used by the Philippine Sanjia Steel Corporation inside the Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
Yang had admitted to owning the sand and gravel business when questioned by legislators probing fraud, illegal drugs, extrajudicial killings, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos), and money laundering operations in the country.
During the said hearing, past Phividec administrators Franklin Quijano and Jose Gabrielle ‘Pompee’ La Viña were also questioned regarding Yang’s businesses operating within the industrial estate.
Congressman Dan Fernandez asked Yang, as well as Quijano and La Viña, why the sand and gravel firm was able to operate despite a lack of permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
In his response to Fernandez, Quijano said the it was the local government of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental which issued the permit.
Quijano said this was one of the gaps in the legislation which delegates the power to issue quarrying permits to local governments.
Qujano added that the source of the sand and gravel material is also located between two towns — Tagoloan and Villanueva — further complicating matters.
Other supposed businesses of Yang were also mentioned, among them the New Hope Flour Milling Corporation, all of which will be subjected to Congressional scrutiny once the House Quad Committee resumes its probe.
The legislators were particularly surprised how Yang, who admitted to acquiring a Filipino birth certificate under dubious circumstances, was able to own and operate several businesses in the country despite being a Chinese national.
