THE chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Dangerous Drugs on Tuesday said the panel has no other recourse, but to issue warrants of arrest for Michael Yang and others if they refuse to attend congressional hearings in connection with the seized P3.6 billion worth of shabu in a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said if Yang, a former adviser of ex-President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and his other associates implicated in the ownership of the warehouse where the drugs were seized still failed to heed the committee’s invitations, the panel can issue show-cause orders followed by warrants of arrest.
“Kapag hindi sila umattend, isa lang ang mangyayari. We will issue a show-cause order and if they refuse and ignore the show-cause order, we have no other recourse but to issue a warrant against them, (If they don’t attend, only one thing happens. We will issue a show-cause order and if they refuse and ignore the show-cause order, we have no other recourse but to issue a warrant against them), ” Barbers said during at a news conference.
“The others we have invited, we have invited five times and now they are the subject of arrest. And hopefully, our PNP, PDEA and NBI, they will be brought to our hearing tomorrow, which will make it more exciting,” he added.
But Yang and his other associates such as Lincoln Ong, were invited to the hearing just a several days ago.
“Pero yung mga bago naming inimbita, ngayon hopefully sila ay mag-appear. Hindi pa naman namin sila inaakusahan. Ang aming panawagan sa kanila ay pumunta sila, mag-attend sila ng hearing, magbigay linaw doon sa issue na kung saan kinasasangkutan ng kanilang kumpanya o kinasasangkutan nila dun sa usapin ng droga, (But the new ones we invited, now hopefully they will appear. We have not accused them yet. Our call to them is that they go, attend a hearing, clarify the issue that their company is involved in or they are involved in the drug issue), ” Barbers explained.
“We have not accused anyone yet. And when they don’t attend, maybe our colleagues can conclude something. We have a saying, ‘flight is indicative of guilt.’ In that case, the committee report might be different and the committee report we will write might be headed that way,” he added.
Yang, said to be a close friend of Duterte, was invited to the hearing by the panel when his name cropped up for being a suspected drug trafficker. He has also been linked to the P8-billion Pharmally Pharmaceutical scandal involving the procurement of medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbers’ panel found out that Ong, who is Yang’s interpreter, is an incorporator of Empire 999 that owns the warehouse where the P3.6 billion worth of shabu was seized.
