Philippines distances itself from Beijing’s probe vs Chinese billionaire, a donor to Duterte’s war on drugs

June 28, 2017

The Philippine government is supporting China's campaign against corruption, but it distanced itself from the investigation being conducted by Beijing against a Chinese billionaire, who has donated huge funds for President Rodrigo Duterte's war on illegal drugs. In an interview with reporters Wednesday, Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Paz Banaag said the probe against Huang Rulun over corruption allegations was internal to China. "On Huang Rulun’s implication in corruption charges, that is of course internal to China, and rest assured that President Duterte is one with the People’s Republic of China in its drive against corruption," she said. Huang, whom Duterte described as "a good Samaritan," donated P4 billion to the Philippine government for the construction of two rehabilitation centers for the drug dependents. When the Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Fort Magsaysay, Palayan City was inaugurated in November last year,  Duterte and Huang were present. "He just came out of nowhere and went to my office and said that he would help me solve the drug problem because he heard that…‘Well, Duterte instead of killing the drug people, why don’t we just, you know, build something like this?’," the President then said. Asked if the Duterte administration investigated Huang before accepting his donations, Banaag said, "that we don't know." She could not say also if the government would accept  a donation from Huang should the latter offer it again. "That of course we don't know yet and we will not comment on that," Banaag said as she reiterated, "that suspicion of corruption on Huang Rulun is internal to China and that is a matter for them to resolve." According to the report of Financial Times, Huang was being investigated by the Chinese government because his company, Century Golden Resources Group, was allegedly a source of bribes paid to Bai Enpai, party secretary of Yunnan Province, in a wide-ranging corruption case. (Celerina Monte/DMS)