‘Sabungeros’ complainant offered P1.5M to drop case; couple arrested
The police have arrested a couple who allegedly attempted to bribe a complainant in the missing “sabungeros” (cockfight enthusiasts) case to make her withdraw her statements against more than 60 respondents, including businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday.
Alvin and Christina Bernabe are now facing cases of obstruction of justice, perjury and grave coercion before the Rizal provincial prosecutor’s office following their arrest on Sept. 15 by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) after they supposedly offered P1.5 million to Janina Pilarta.
Assistant Justice Secretary Eliseo Cruz told reporters that Pilarta was the common-law wife of John Inonog, one of the missing sabungeros and the son of a certain Butch Inonog.
“Since the CIDG’s investigation in 2022, [Butch Inonog] was regarded as the leader [of the sabungeros]. But now we can no longer find him because, according to reports, he has agreed to a settlement or was paid a large sum by the suspects in the missing sabungero case,” Cruz said.
Pressure from family
The Inonog family had allegedly been trying to convince Pilarta to drop her complaint and side with them. However, she refused as she wanted justice for her partner, with whom she has two children.
“[Pilarta] agreed to meet the people convincing her to drop the case. It turned out that Mr. Butch Inonog sent his own daughter, Christina Bernabe, and her husband, Alvin Bernabe, who offered P1.5 million in exchange for her silence,” Cruz said.
The couple asked Pilarte to sign a document that stated that she was recanting claims against more than 60 respondents in the case, which included Ang and actress Gretchen Barretto.
“The document claimed that [Pilarte] was only convinced by whistleblower Julie Patidongan to make her earlier statements, and that she was now taking them back,” Cruz said.
He added that the police were still trying to identify the source of the bribe money, although they suspect it may have come from Inonog.
“[We] received information that he accepted a large sum of money. That may be why he is pressuring his family to avoid further problems since he may have promised those who paid him that his entire family would unite in dropping the case [against the suspects],” Cruz said.
