Palace backs wider probe; PCSO chair: I’m no fixer
By Vince Lopez, Pot Chavez and Charles Dantes
Some of the 15 cops placed under restrictive custody have expressed feelers they are ready to turn as state witnesses in the case of the missing “sabungeros,” the National Police Commission on Wednesday said.
“We have feelers that are being obtained. Honestly, I hope their approach will materialize and hopefully this approach will produce an affidavit that will be key to our investigation,” Napolcom vice chairman Rafael Calinisan said.
“One of them has deep knowledge and may testify, while many others were giving information. There is substance – and they were really substantial,” he said.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said finding more whistleblowers is crucial to resolving the case.
“That’s one of the directions that we can take…If some of them will volunteer to be state witnesses or they decide to tell all, then that will be a welcome development in the investigation,” Torre said.
“But even without that, we can solve this case even without the cooperation of the suspects,” he added.
Amid the developments, Malacañang expressed support for a broader investigation into the disappearance of several “sabungeros.”
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said the Palace is taking seriously the information disclosed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who cited intelligence and documentation suggesting a possible connection between operatives in the Duterte-era anti-drug campaign and the missing “sabungeros.”
“If that is what is being revealed in the investigation, then it is all the more necessary to expand the probe,” Castro said.
“These crimes appear to be interconnected, if proven true. We are not declaring anyone guilty at this point, but the President will make sure justice is served for the victims,” she added.
For his part, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chairperson and retired judge Felix Reyes refuted allegations he acted as a “fixer” for cases involving gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang, who was tagged as one of the masterminds in the case by whistleblower Julie “Dondon” Patidongan.
In a statement, Reyes dared Patidongan, who previously went by the alias “Totoy,” to prove his “wild accusations.”
“I dare him (Patidongan) to identify any specific case of Mr. Atong Ang or anything related to the Sabungero Case, which I understand is still pending in court, that I fixed or settled to the advantage of Mr. Ang,” Reyes said.
“If Mr. Patidongan cannot substantiate his accusation of case-fixing, I ask him to shut up,” the former judge added.
Patidongan, who previously worked for Ang as his “farm manager,” earlier said a retired judge who is now with PCSO helped the gaming tycoon get an acquittal in one of the cases against him connected to the missing “sabungeros.”
Reyes questioned the timing of the accusation, noting that it came just a day after he filed his application for the position of Ombudsman.
To refute any suspicion of collusion, Reyes authorized the Bureau of Immigration to disclose his travel records from October 1, 2021 — when he retired from the judiciary — to the present, to “dispel any notion of travels abroad with prosecutors and judges.”
“I am ready and willing to cooperate in any investigation by any government agency that will shed light on these baseless allegations… and spare the judiciary and the prosecution service from the undeserved tarnishing of these institutions,” Reyes said.
Patidongan previously worked at the Manila Arena cockpit and was one of the six accused of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in the missing “sabungeros” case.
He was released on bail and has since been placed under police protective custody after he began revealing what he knew about the crime before the media.
Patidongan earlier said the remains of 34 missing “sabungeros” were disposed of in Taal Lake between 2021 and 2022.
He said the victims were strangled, tied with sandbags, and thrown into the lake’s deeper areas.
Calinisan renewed his call on Patidongan to file a formal affidavit before Napolcom.
“We haven’t seen anything yet. Sadly, while we more or less know the story through conversations, as for a formal document, I don’t have a single page of an affidavit from alias Totoy,” Calinisan said.
“I hope Totoy will come out and file it with Napolcom because it has been a long time (since the crimes were committed). The people (families of the missing “sabungeros”) have been suffering for four years,” he added.
As this developed, Torre said they are checking the locations of other possible sites where the remains of the missing “sabungeros” were buried apart from Taal Lake.
“We already have a few that we are visiting. We have areas not only around Laguna or Batangas but other parts of Metro Manila and of course in the underlying areas,” Torre said.
