Currently, 54-year-old Yang Jianxin is detained by the Philippine Immigration Bureau.
According to Congressman Dan Fernandez of Santa Rosa, Laguna, in the aforementioned hearing, "Yang Jianxin is a Chinese citizen. As a foreigner, he owns properties and hundreds of hectares of land in Cagayan de Oro City through a Filipino identity, Antonio Maestrado Lin."
Yang Jianxin, Yang Hongming, and Yang Hongjiang, three brothers, like many from Jinjiang who ventured to the Philippines, settled in different major cities across the islands after one of them established a foothold. They do not stay in the same city or even the same island but spread out to major cities across the Philippines to set up networks and develop their businesses. The Yang brothers went to Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and Cebu respectively.
Because "Oro" in "Cagayan de Oro" means "gold" in Spanish, it is evident that Yang Jianxin particularly likes to use the word "gold," which can be seen from the names of his leading companies, Golden City Development Company and Gold Number One Company.
In fact, there are many companies across the Philippine islands with "gold" or "Golden City" in their names. For example, Xin Huang Jin Cheng Co., Ltd. Inc, a company that appeared in Philippine news previously for operating online gambling businesses, and New Golden City Builders & Development, Incorporated in Manila. These companies are likely related to Yang Jianxin or the Yang brothers.
Let's go back five years.
On September 7, 2019, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Central Visayas (CIDG-7) arrested 181 Chinese nationals working for an illegal online gambling company in Lapulapu City, Cebu, for violating cybercrime and illegal gambling laws.
This operation was the culmination of an eight-month surveillance investigation by CIDG-7 into the illegal online gambling activities of Xin Huang Jin Cheng Co., Ltd. Inc, which operated in a 12-story building in Mactan Newtown, Lapulapu City.
Due to the large number of arrests, all detainees were first taken to the CIDG-7 headquarters in Cebu City for interrogation. They were then detained at the nearby Barangay Zapatera gym.
A CIDG officer stated that Xin Huang Jin Cheng occupied all 12 floors of the building for illegal operations.
Investigators stated that the company's management presented documents showing that the company had obtained a business process outsourcing (BPO) operation license; however, the company was not one of the 60 licensed online gambling operators authorized by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).
The police stated that they were preparing to file separate charges against Xin Huang Jin Cheng.
Jeff David, the lawyer for Xin Huang Jin Cheng, stated in a press release on September 11 that the company was registered as "an accredited customer relationship service provider and had obtained a valid certification and operation license until May 22, 2020."
David said that the CIDG's raid was unrelated to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. He added that the police also threatened the legal advisors present during the raid. "The police tried to intimidate them and directly threatened to arrest them because they were fulfilling their sworn duties to their clients," David said.
On September 18, 2019, the controversial head of CIDG-7, Police Colonel Lito Patay, was relieved of his duties after leading the raid on Xin Huang Jin Cheng. Patay had previously been the chief of Quezon City Police Station 6, known for having the highest number of people killed in drug operations from 2016 to 2017, with a total of 108 people killed, the highest among all grassroots police units in the Philippines.
Debold Sinas, the police chief of Central Visayas and later briefly the police chief, confirmed this during a break in an event. "That's why he was relieved, I won't lie, so you won't have to guess," Sinas said when asked by reporters.
The Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office later decided to drop the charges due to lack of reasonable cause and released the detained Chinese nationals.
The company's lawyer, Jeff David, denied that the company was operating illegally and stated that Xin Huang Jin Cheng was registered as "an accredited customer relationship service provider." He also stated that the police raid was not coordinated with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, which regulates online gambling companies.
The editor speculates that the Yang brothers were likely the behind-the-scenes owners of the so-called Hongsheng Company, which they later sold to Huang Zhiyang, Yu Zhengcan, and Guo Huaping, among others. The reason is also related to fortune-telling or character analysis, with the character "Hong" being crucial!
