Palace hands off on corruption allegations vs. Chinese tycoon

Malacañang on Wednesday distanced itself from the corruption allegations against Chinese businessman Huang Rulun who donated P1.4 billion to the Philippines for the construction of mega drug rehabilitation centers.

"On Huang Rulun's implication on corruption charges, that is of course internal to China. Rest assured that President Duterte is one with President of the People's Republic of China in its drive against corruption," Communications Assistant Secretary Marie Banaag told reporters after the Mindanao Hour in Malacañang on Wednesday.

"Like I said, that's up to China already," she added.

Financial Times reported that according to an anti-corruption watchdog in Beijing, Huang is under investigation over bribery allegations.

Banaag, however, refused to comment on whether the Philippine government would still accept donations from Huang.

“We don’t know yet… The suspicion on Huang Rulun is internal to China,” she said.

She also could not confirm if Malacañang did a background check on Huang before accepting donations from him.

In December, Duterte praised Huang during the ceremonial signing of General Appropriations Act 2017 in Malacañang.

“Let me just mention him in passing because he has my endearing love and gratitude. He was a Chinese guy, Huang Rulun. He came here one afternoon. He shook my hands and he said that he’s gonna build us a rehab,” he said.

“But I thought that he would build something like a 200, 300 facility. While it was under construction I was asking people from that area sa Fort Magsaysay and they said that, ‘Mayor, it’s huge…very big.’ So eventually it turned out that it was good for 10,000 people. A beautiful…a beautiful place and a beautiful facility,” he added.

Duterte inaugurated the first phase of Huang’s donated mega-drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation center in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija in November. It spans for 60,000 square meters that can house 10,000 drug patients.

The President first met Huang in Davao City exactly a year ago.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, for his part, said he would have to confer with government officials involved in trade and diplomatic affairs with China before issuing a statement on the matter.

"Ayoko naman pangunahan ang magiging desisyon ng ating gobyerno, kung ano ang magiging statement ng ating gobyerno pero one thing is for sure ang ating Pangulo he is always on the side of the law, kung ano po ang tama," Andanar said on the sidelines of a media forum in Manila.

He also declined to speculate on what would be the government's position in the event Chinese authorities find the real estate tycoon liable for bribery.

Huang is named by Forbes last year as the 49th wealthiest businessman in China with an estimated net worth of $3.6 billion.

He is the founder and chairman of real estate developer Century Golden Resources Group.

According to a report by Reuters, privately-held Century Golden owns 20 five-star hotels and 10 shopping malls, including the major Century City complex in Beijing. —ALG/RSJ, GMA News