Ion Lodge in Baguio is owned by Eric Yap’s shut aide

It was owned by contractor David Sanchez, who was concerned within the restore of the Baguio Conference Heart

BAGUIO, Philippines – Authorities have obtained a search warrant to brush a room on the Ion Lodge in Baguio, the place public works undersecretary Catalina “Cathy” Cabral was checked in earlier than her demise induced by a fall in a ravine in Tuba, Benguet.

Why did Cabral go to Baguio, and the way did she find yourself on that ledge on a cliff in the midst of the winding Kennon Street? Earlier than her demise, Cabral was a central determine to the complicated investigation of a multi-billion-peso infrastructure scandal, and was accused by one other colleague of having operated a whole corrupt system.

Rappler examined the information of all company layers from the time Ion Lodge was nonetheless Vacation Inn, and the paperwork led us to at least one present proprietor: Ralph Robin Tan.

Tan is usually seen with Benguet Consultant Eric Yap in each formal and casual occasions. He’s additionally typically tagged in Fb posts of Yap’s outreach occasions, and of speeches thanking Yap for medical help.

Tan was additionally the one who filed with the Fee on Elections in Might 2025 a petition to disqualify Tagel Felipe, who was operating in opposition to Yap for lone district consultant of Benguet. Yap received the race.

Rappler has cross-matched Tan’s signatures and tax identification quantity (TIN), and confirmed that Tan the proprietor of Ion resort is Tan the petitioner, who’s Yap’s shut aide.

Yap’s property have been ordered frozen by the Court docket of Appeals, primarily based on possible trigger proof that he supposedly is the useful proprietor of the contractor Silverwolves and the aviation firm Sky Yard. Each Silverwolves and Sky Yard are registered with the SEC underneath the Ching household.

How did Tan come to personal Ion Lodge?

The operator of Ion Lodge is Potiel Resort Administration Inc. Rappler confirmed this by making an attempt to e-book a room and getting financial institution deposit directions, in addition to seeing the enterprise permits plastered on the resort’s reception desk.

Potiel began its operation in 2022. Again then, it was owned by retired army normal Ferdinand Jose Gaveran Rivera. They ultimately bought to DM Capital Enterprise Company, which additionally operated the Vacation Inn earlier than it was entangled with litigation and needed to shut down enterprise.

When Potiel filed its normal info sheet (GIS) in March 2025, its house owners have been nonetheless Michael Darren Sanchez and DM Capital. DM Capital is owned by way of a holding company by the household of Sanchez, together with David Sanchez who denied to Bilyonaryo.com that he was Cabral’s boyfriend. These rumors are “completely unfaithful,” David Sanchez informed Bilyonaryo over the weekend.

Potiel filed a brand new GIS on August 18, 2025, or every week after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spoke in Malacañang in opposition to what he stated have been anomalous flood management tasks. In that up to date GIS, Tan is the brand new proprietor controlling 99% of the corporate, or P499.9 million value of shares.

The ties that bind

Silverwolves’ Ching household additionally owned one other Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) contractor, the Unimax Metal Construction and Building Company. In June 2025, Unimax was nonetheless owned by the Ching household, and another person who controls 20% of the shares. That particular person’s registered residence is a five-storey constructing in Quezon Metropolis proper subsequent door to the residence of Yap’s brother, ACT-CIS Consultant Edvic Yap.

Addresses have been verified by way of Edvic Yap’s different two firms, Earth Yard Corp. and Ever Younger Industrial Gross sales, whose places of work are additionally throughout the neighborhood. By October 2025, or months after the flood management controversy has damaged, Ching and Edvic Yap’s neighbors have been now not house owners.

In 2022, Unimax went right into a three way partnership with Spiderone Building Firm LTD to construct a P289 million multi-purpose constructing in La Trinidad, Benguet. Primarily based on searchable DPWH contracts, the managing officer of Spiderone till at the very least 2019 was David Sanchez. Present contracts now present completely different managing officers, and David Sanchez stated he has divested from the corporate.

Nevertheless, in 2018, when Spiderone and three way partnership accomplice EGB Building received the P169 million mission to restore the Baguio Conference Heart, David Sanchez was nonetheless Spiderone’s supervisor. David Sanchez is a recognized businessman in Baguio circles. Mayor Benjamin Magalong has publicly expressed disappointment within the restore.

All of that tie again to the resort on Legarda Street. Spiderone was a contractor of the now-defunct Vacation Inn in Baguio, the identical constructing that’s now named Ion Lodge. In keeping with a native report on Amianan Balita Ngayon, Spiderone sued Vacation Inn for unpaid payments in 2021. Vacation Inn on the time was owned by Vivotel, which is a subsidiary of DM Capital Holdings Company of the Sanchez household. It’s the identical household which owned Ion Lodge till it bought to Tan. – Rappler.com