The Department of Justice late last week said Charlie ‘Atong’ Ang will be facing murder charges, relative to the case of the 36 missing ‘sabungeros’ or cockfighting aficionados.
Ang is the operator of the country’s biggest legal online e-sabong operations and was an advisor to former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Ang was tagged by a whistleblower as the mastermind of the criminal syndicate that kidnapped and killed at least 36 sabungeros or bettors three years ago.
That whistleblower, Julie ‘Totoy’ Patindongan, also implicated Ang’s reported girlfriend, actress Gretchen Barreto, along with three others.
Two of Patindongan’s brothers – Elakim and Jose – recently returned to the Philippines last week, and they supported the claim of their sibling even as they admitted taking part in the kidnap-murder case.
Patindongan had surfaced last month and said the sabungeros were kidnapped in separate batches in 2021. They were all killed and their remains were dumped in Taal Lake wrapped in sacks.
After the claim of the whistleblower, divers from the Philippine Navy scoured Taal Lake. So far, they have discovered a handful of sacks which were found to contain bones believed to be human remains.
Those remains are being subjected to a variety of tests to determine if they are indeed human.
Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla said relatives of the missing sabungeros filed multiple murder as well as serious illegal detention raps against Ang.
Also last week, the Justice secretary said another key witness was now in the hands of the Justice department.
Remulla also said that Elokim Patindongan had personally witnessed the killing of 10 of the missing sabungeros.
Remulla said the testimony of Elokim strengthened the cases against Ang. The brother of the original whistleblower was “highly placed and embedded” in the criminal organization behind the killings.
Ang said he welcomed the cases filed against him, saying that Patindongan had been trying to extort him to the tune of PHP30 million.
Speaking through lawyer Gabriel Villareal, Ang said Patindongan’s testimony was “flawed, self-serving and unsubstantiated.”
While admitting that Patindongan was connected to his e-sabong operations, Ang said the whistleblower had resorted to illegal gambling, kidnapping, extortion and intimidation “without the knowledge of his superiors.”
Ang described Patindongan as a “master manipulator” and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Worst of all, Ang said Patindongan had “embedded himself” among the victims of the tragedy that he himself had perpetrated. In response, Ang filed cases against Patindongan for conspiracy to commit attempted robbery with violence or intimidation of persons, grave threats, grave coercion, grave slander, and falsely incriminating innocent individuals.
His latest fall from grace would not be his first. Ang was incarcerated earlier for his role in small town lottery which he operated illegally in competition with the state-owned and controlled Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Ang has long been considered untouchable because he is a big donor to national and local politicians.Philippine National Police Major Gen. Nicolas Torre admitted that no less than 15 policemen had been tagged in the disappearances of the sabungeros, both retired and in active service.
