DOJ can’t act on ‘Totoy’ claims without affidavit
Whistleblower Julie Patidongan may have kept the public glued to his gripping allegations about the missing “sabungeros,” but he has yet to lodge a formal criminal complaint that public prosecutors can evaluate for filing in court.
Until he formally files a complaint-affidavit with the Department of Justice (DOJ), Patidongan’s claims will remain to be “allegations that need to be validated and evaluated,” Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon told reporters on Tuesday.
“At this point, much as we would want to, we cannot make any disclosures because all these revelations which are being made have to be formally presented or submitted to us in the form of affidavits and we have yet to see it and if and when we do see it, we still have to evaluate,” he said.
In TV interviews, Patidongan—initially named “Totoy” to hide his identity—alleged that cockfighting aficionados were abducted and then strangled to death before their bodies were dumped in Taal Lake by a cabal of policemen on the orders of gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang.
Ang has denied his allegations and filed a string of complaints against him.
Patidongan, a respondent in the case of the missing sabungeros who is out on bail, on Monday filed an administrative complaint against 18 active and dismissed policemen at the National Police Commission in connection with the case.
He identified two of the 18 as Police Col. Jacinto Malinao Jr. and Lt. Col. Ryan Jay Orapa in the interview with reporters. The two were among 15 policemen who had been restricted to Camp Crame.
Malinao was chief of the Provincial Police Office in Batangas province, while Orapa was previously assigned to the Highway Patrol Group.
The 18 (not 12 as earlier reported) consisted of 12 active and six dismissed policemen.
‘General wanted me dead’
Outside of the 18, Patidongan also tagged retired Police Lt. Gen. Jonnel Estomo of involvement in the case, an allegation denied by the former official.
“General Estomo is an Alpha member [of Pitmaster Group],” Patidongan told reporters on Monday, referring to the online gaming group headed by Ang. “He was one of the people who urged Mr. Atong Ang to have me killed.”
Estomo, director of the National Capital Region Police Office from August 2022 to February 2023, vowed to present evidence to clear his name, and file charges against the whistleblower.
“Due to his actions undermining my character and reputation, my lawyers are preparing the necessary case for the malicious and baseless accusations against me,” Estomo said in a statement.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said he planned to meet with Patidongan, one of six security personnel of the Manila Arena cockpit charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention of the sabungeros.
The Philippine National Police has placed Patidongan under its protective custody and said he has applied for inclusion in the government’s witness protection program.
Still an accused
But even with all the information he has provided on the disappearance of the sabungeros between April 2021 and January 2022, Patidongan remains an “accused” in the case, Fadullon said.
“Although he is or he may be considered a whistleblower as of this time, all the things that have been disclosed are still being subject of validation and evaluation by the law enforcement authorities,” he said.
The case stemmed from the alleged abduction of cockfighters Mark Joseph Velasco, Marlon Baccay, James Baccay, Rowel Gomez, John Claude Inonog and Rondel Cristorum by the security personnel and their cohorts.
They were last seen being taken to the basement of the Manila Arena on Jan. 13, 2022, before they were forced into a gray van, according to witnesses.
Patidongan and the five other accused have been out on bail but the Court of Appeals in December 2024 overturned a Manila court’s ruling that granted their petition for bail.
Human bones
Meanwhile, six of 91 bones recovered from Taal Lake—ground zero of the massive search for the bodies of the sabungeros—maybe of human origin, according to Lt. Col. Edmar dela Torre, officer in charge of the national police Forensic Group (FG).
“As of now, we are positive that six of the 91 bones may be of human origin,” Dela Torre told reporters. “By morphology, it’s of human origin.”
Col. Francisco Supe, FG’s deputy director for administration, agreed with his observation, saying “The structures like the pubic bone, the ischium, the ilium, the foramen, the holes in the bones were present.”
Ischium, ilium and pubis are three fused bones that make up the human hip bone that is located on each side of the pelvis.
“Animals have that, too. But if the shape is peculiar in humans, you’ll really see it is of human origin. This is just from observation,” Supe added.
According to Dela Torre, the Forensic Group will generate DNA profiles from the bone pieces and cross-check these with the DNA profiles of the samples collected from the sabungeros’ relatives.
Authorities are hoping that a match between the bones retrieved from five sacks hauled up from the lakebed since Thursday and 18 DNA samples from the cockfighting enthusiasts’ kin will lead to a breakthrough.
ROV deployed
On Tuesday morning, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in Taal Lake, an operation that Remulla said could take six months.
It was the first time the Coast Guard divers deployed the ROV in the search that began last Friday. It’s equipped with camera and LED lights and can go as deep as 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) and lift objects as heavy as 10 kilograms.
“This (ROV) will help us determine its effectiveness in possibly locating items at the bottom of the lake and within the designated search area,” Junior Grade Dawn Baterbonia, spokesperson of PCG District Southern Tagalog, told dzBB.
The ROV can remain underwater for four hours, but on Tuesday morning it was submerged 100 meters from the shore of the Taal Lake Central Fish Port an hour at a time, according to a PCG official.
Authorities are still determining the proper depth for its deployment since it has propellers that can disrupt the muddy lakebed, the official said.
“It will take about another six months to search for remains in the lake. Many have died here and it’s no joke what we’re doing, looking for human remains in a large lake, 224 square kilometers,” Remulla told dzMM. —WITH REPORTS FROM JASON SIGALES, JOHN ERIC MENDOZA AND FAITH ARGOSINO
