Quad comm links Pharmally with POGOs

MANILA, Philippines — The personal appearance of Rose Nono Lin – Filipino wife of Allan Lim – establishes the links between Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., which was engaged in the overpricing of medical supplies during the Duterte administration, and illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators or POGO.

Upon interpellation, Lin told leaders and members of the quad committee of the House of Representatives last Nov. 7 that she is the spouse of Lim for the last 11 years and that she knows nothing of his alleged other Chinese names, like Lin Wei Xiong.

She denied that her husband, a Hong Kong national, had since been in hiding in Dubai, revealing to House members they just met each other last Nov. 1 in the island city-state, where he supervises several of their companies, while she stays in the country.

Lin confirmed and acknowledged to panel chairman Rep. Robert Ace Barbers that Lim was indeed her husband based on the pictures that the Surigao del Norte congressman showed, but denied allegations the foreigner is a drug trafficker.

Barbers, presiding officer of quad comm, heads the House committee on dangerous drugs.

Lin related that she met her husband in early 2009 when she was still working with a hotel, adding Allan Lim has been an entrepreneur and has been here in the country since 2005. However, a record of the birth certificate of Lin and Lim’s child indicated their son was born on Dec. 6, 2004.

In the course of the hearing, Lin also admitted that POGO is just one of her businesses.

One of them is Xionwei Technology, which has been dubbed as the “mother of all POGOs” on the basis that it lent its license to several POGO companies across the country, including the one headed by dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo as well as the Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga.

Lin likewise acknowledged that she designated her niece as stockholder and incorporator of the holding firms she formed, to which Michael Yang – economic adviser to former president Rodrigo Duterte – has also been a partner.

She admitted before the quad comm that she and her husband control most of these companies, like Paili Holdings, Xionwei Technology and Full Win Group of Companies.

Rep. Dan Fernandez, co-chairman of the quad comm and chairman of the House committee on public order and safety, also showed screenshots of Lin’s conversation with their employees Ted Lazaro and Alvin Constantino.

The exchange of communication indicated that Lin directed Constantino to pull out their equipment in Porac, Pampanga after authorities conducted a raid and ordered its closure, in compliance with the directive of President Marcos.

In a related development, Moro Lazo, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director-general, confirmed at the same hearing that Lin Wei Xiong of Pharmally and Allan Lim – who has since been on their drug list – is one and same person.

“He (Lin Wei Xiong) is a drug personality. He was caught in a shabu laboratory in Tagaytay in 2004,” he revealed, noting that the information given by an agency informant and that of police colonel Eduardo Acierto on the identity of Lin, Allan Lim and Wei Xiong Lin matched.

“We were able to talk to a confidential informant. He is a reliable informant. When he talked to us, he hadn’t even seen the presentation of Colonel Acierto before the committee on dangerous drugs,” the PDEA chief told the quad committee.

“When we took down (the details of) what he was telling us, it confirms some of the statements of Colonel Acierto,” he added.

Quoting the PDEA informant, Lazo said Lin and Allan Lim also went by the names Allan Lin, Jeffrey Lin, Jeff Lin, Ayong, Lin Wei Xiong and Wen Li Chen. “These names all are confirmed by the different statements being heard before the quad comm.”