THE Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday said subpoenas have been issued against gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang and the other respondents tagged in the disappearance and alleged killings of “sabungeros” (cockfighting enthusiasts) who have been missing since 2021.
Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano said they started serving the subpoenas last Tuesday.
“Subpoenas have been issued from the preliminary report given by the National Prosecution Service as against the 59 or 60 respondents in the case of the missing sabungeros,” Clavano told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” media forum.
Asked if a subpoena has been served to Ang, he replied: “He would have been served already with the subpoena (but) I’m not sure if he is included in the first batch or the second batch today.”
“But our goal is to have everyone served their subpoenas by today. So, we can expect that all 59 or 60 of the respondents would have been able to receive their subpoenas yesterday or today,” he added.
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon last month said subpoenas will be issued against Ang and the other respondents in the multiple murders, serious illegal detention, direct bribery and obstruction of justice charges filed by the families of the missing sabungeros.
“The evaluation of the cases pertaining to the missing sabungeros have been completed and it will now be subjected to preliminary investigation. Subject to the receipt by the panel of the records, subpoenas will be issued for the conduct of the preliminary investigation on dates to be determined by the panel,” Fadullon had said.
Ang was tagged by suspect-turned-whistleblower Julie “Totoy” Patidongan as the alleged mastermind in the abduction and killing of the missing sabungeros, whose bodies were supposedly dumped in Taal Lake.
Technical divers have been searching the lake since July for the possible remains of the cockfighting enthusiasts.
Ang has denied Patidongan’s allegations, and has filed a damage suit against his former farm manager before the Mandaluyong prosecutors office.
TAAL LAKE SEARCH
In a related development, Clavano said divers from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) have retrieved another set of skeletons that are “determined to be human remains.”
“This was reported to us in the past few days. We are again coming up with an updated inventory and this will all go through the DNA testing which we have been doing since the start of the operation,” he said.
The DOJ earlier sought the assistance of the University of the Philippines Anthropology Department and its Forensic Pathology Department, as well as the Japanese government, in the analysis of the recovered remains recovered.
Last month, the DOJ said 401 pieces of human skeletal remains have been recovered from 17 different locations by Coast Guard technical divers.
