OSG starts review of Chinese landgrab docs from quadcom

Manila: Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday said his office is already reviewing the documents turned over by the quad committee (quadcom) of the House of Representatives in connection with the Chinese nationals accused of acquiring fraudulent Filipino citizenship to illegally acquire real properties and operate businesses in the Philippines. 'We'll review immediately the documents turned over to us by the quadcom. Then we'll engage with other government agencies for further evidence gathering and case build-up,' Guevarra said in a message to reporters. "Once we have gathered sufficient evidence, we'll commence the appropriate legal actions which may include civil forfeiture, reversion, escheat, cancellation of birth certificates, deportation, and criminal/administrative complaints," he added. The quadcom, comprising the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts, handed over the documents to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Monday. The panel's chairpersons, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Ace Barbers, urged the OSG to expedite its review and initiate civil forfeiture proceedings, in coordination with other government agencies, to safeguard national security and halt foreign exploitation. Among the Chinese nationals being accused is Aedy Tai Yang, who is suspected of falsifying documents to obtain Filipino citizenship in order to skirt foreign ownership laws. Included in the submitted documents against Yang are tax declarations for properties in his name and corporate records, such as those from Empire 999 Realty Corporation and Sunflare Industrial Supply Corp., which are tied to suspicious land acquisitions. Yang and his supposed incorporators also owned the warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga, where a shabu shipment worth PHP3.6 billion was seized in 2023. The quadcom also presented documents showing questionable land deals between Yang and the local government of Mexico, Pampanga, supported by memorandums of agreement, deeds of sale, an d municipal resolutions that bypassed legal processes. The Department of Agrarian Reform also confirmed that some of the lands sold by Yang did not undergo the required conversion process. Yang is a central figure in the quadcom's broader investigation into illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, drug trade, land grabbing by Chinese nationals, and extrajudicial killings linked to the Duterte administration's war on drugs. Source: Philippines News Agency