Losing faith
Who will be left to fight for the missing “sabungeros”?
Less than a handful of families of the 34 missing cockfighting aficionados are left to pursue the charges of kidnapping with homicide and serious illegal detention against gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang and his police and civilian cohorts, according to a report in this paper on Friday.
This is an alarming development for a case that has been an uphill battle for the families from the very start. Have they simply grown tired of waiting for answers, or are powerful forces weakening the case having the upper hand?
The answer is not difficult to gauge. In May, five families filed a complaint for obstruction of justice against Caroline Cruz, a lawyer for Ang, who allegedly bribed witnesses with a monthly allowance of P40,000 to withdraw from the case or stop attending the hearings.
“Any other perks they receive, we are not sure. But as of now, what we know is they are getting an allowance,” Charlene Lasco, sister of an “e-sabong” master agent who was among the missing, said in an Inquirer interview on May 29, adding they even have proof of the bribe.
Cruz has denied the allegations but confirmed meeting with some of the families in her office. She gave them cash for “humanitarian reasons” after they allegedly complained about how hard their lives have been.
Falling out
This clearly smacks of opportunism, if not outright bribery, capitalizing on desperation and vulnerabilities of the victims’ families. Such overtures have in fact driven a wedge between the families once united in grief and search for justice for their disappeared relatives.
Lasco revealed that the cash handouts caused a falling out among the families as some of them decided to drop from the case and switched to the side of Ang. Among those they charged with obstruction along with Cruz were relatives of the missing sabungeros themselves.
Now there are only five families left pursuing the case, according to Lasco.
But Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon gave assurances that the criminal prosecution of Ang and his coaccused—three police officers and six Manila Arena guards—will be pursued by the government despite the disappearing ranks of aggrieved families.
He said the withdrawal of families from the case would affect only the civil aspect, which involves the compensation for emotional distress the case has caused them.
‘E-sabong’ empire
Fadullon said the withdrawal of the witnesses would only impact that case if they had personal knowledge of the disappearance of their loved ones. “[I]f what they know is based solely on police investigation reports, then we cannot consider that personal knowledge,” Fadullon said. “[The case] is not dependent on the absence or presence of the families of the victims because remember, in most cases, the families were not there or were not around when their relatives disappeared.”
Still, to see families losing faith in the prosecution of the case is an indictment of the country’s justice system that usually moves fast for the influential and the powerful and drags on for the less privileged.
Consider the circumstances: between April 2021 and January 2022, at least 34 sabungeros from Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon were reported missing. Police said the men were suspected of cheating and committing fraud in Ang’s e-sabong empire, including the Manila Arena where some of the sabungeros were reportedly abducted.
After sporadic investigations in the next three years, the case gained new traction when whistleblower Julie “Totoy” Patidongan, one of the accused in the kidnapping case, said in televised interviews that more sabungeros were kidnapped, strangled to death, tied to sandbags, and dumped in Taal Lake by a group of policemen acting on orders of Ang. He claimed that not just 34 but over a hundred sabungeros were involved.
Bottom of Taal Lake
The revelation prompted a government-led search at the bottom of Taal Lake, where some 1,400 recovered bones have so far been confirmed as human.
The biggest hindrance to the successful prosecution of the case remains the inability of authorities to find and arrest Ang, the wealthy businessman tagged as the mastermind of the mass abduction and killings.
Though he had been linked to the crimes—it was his e-sabong operations after all—authorities never moved to keep track of his whereabouts early enough. And despite a P20-million bounty on his head and a red notice from the International Criminal Police Organization, he is nowhere to be found.
That alone speaks to the difficulties and frustration that victims’ families have to contend with. If the mastermind—oozing with cash—can’t even be arrested and brought to court to face trial, how can one remain hopeful?
It is the duty of the government not to let go, not to let money and influence determine the outcome of one of the most horrifying crimes committed with impunity. The sabungeros, languishing in the murky waters of Taal Lake, deserve a measure of justice.
