Congress set to tackle philanthropist Carlos Yeung’s Filipino citizenship bid
The House of Representatives is set to deliberate the granting of Philippine citizenship to Hongkong national Carlos Kwok-Hing Yeung, the husband of Cebuana philanthropist Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung.
Mariquita is the sister of Cebu 4th district Representative Benhur Salimbangon.
Cebu 3rd district Representative and Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia filed last August 24 House Bill 6262, which sought the granting of Philippine citizenship to Yeung. The bill is now with the House Committee on Justice.
Article IV of the Philippine Constitution provides for the general ways in acquiring a naturalized citizenship. It includes an act by Congress if a foreign person has made a significant contribution to public life in the Philippines, and the application can be sponsored by a senator or a congressman.
Though a national of Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, Yeung has, for the past 40 years, worked and lived as if he were a Filipino.
A Chinese-British businessman who has a diamond jewelry business in Hong Kong, Yeung first came to the Philippines in 1978 to marry Mariquita. Since then, he made Cebu not just his second home but also that of his growing family and the focus of his ventures as an entrepreneur.
A partner of Hongkong diamond dealer Simplex Diam H.K. Ltd., Yeung soon expanded his investments in the Philippines through MSY Holdings Inc., of which he is the vicechairman and whose affiliates are engaged in diverse businesses, such as real estate development, hospitality business, health and fitness. He is also involved with Agujo Land Corporation, MFC Holdings Corporation, CY/FC Ventures Corporation, Cebu Sutherland Construction and Development Corporation, and Kandaya Fitness Gym Inc.
MSY Holdings Inc. is responsible for building Kandaya Resort, a luxury beach resort in Daanbantayan town, and the MSY Tower at the Cebu Business Park, Cebu City.
Garcia said that while Yeung’s business ventures have created employment opportunities for thousands of Filipinos, it is in the area of philanthropy that he excelled, having touched tens of thousands of lives in Cebu and nearby provinces since 1991.
Through the MSY Charitable Foundation Inc., Yeung and Mariquita funded the construction of health centers and the conduct of medical-surgical-dental missions in depressed areas in Cebu province. They also extended medical assistance program for indigent patients; assistance for the repair and reconstruction of public school buildings; assistance to poor and deserving students in the primary, secondary and tertiary levels; and likewise conducted relief operations in times of natural calamities and supported worthy religious, social, civil and cultural projects.
Operation Smile, the foundation’s flagship project that has been helping children with cleft lip and cleft palate, has brought smiles to over 5,000 children in the last 19 years.
In recognition of MSYCFI’s philanthropy, founding chairman Mariquita was recognized as a Papal awardee of the Order of St. Sylvester.
Yeung and Mariquita share a home in Cebu City with three children Carla, Martin and Jewelle.
“Citizenship is a high privilege as well as an awesome responsibility: it requires physical presence, integration into the community, investment in a nation’s future, a demonstrative compassion for your fellowmen, particularly your future fellow citizens,” Garcia said.
“If this be the standard, Carlos Kwok-Hing Yeung has shown that he is and should be a citizen of the Philippines,” she said.