JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said it is still waiting for a Manila court to re-issue warrants of arrest against six suspects in the case related to the disappearance of six cockfighting aficionados in 2022.
“Hihingin natin na mag-issue ulit ng warrant of arrest para matapos na ito ng maayos (We will ask the court to again issue a warrant of arrest so that we can complete this),” Remulla told reporters in a chanced interview Monday.
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon, head of the National Prosecution Service (NPS), said they have asked Manila RTC Branch 40 last month to order the rearrest of the suspects.
The Manila court has earlier allowed the six suspects to post bail amounting to P3 million each for their temporary liberty.
The Court of Appeals (CA), however, has held that the Manila trial court abused its discretion when it granted the bail petition of the six suspects.
The CA through Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr. held that there is strong evidence of the accused’s guilt for the crime they were charged with.
“Their actions coordinated with each other to ensure that the victims were deprived of their liberty,“ the appellate court said, adding that it is the Court’s opinion that after the victims were made to board the van that they could no longer be traced and found even by the police, “there are strong factual evidence that show the victims were detained or kidnapped.”
The CA added that the victim’s movements were “supervised and controlled’ by the accused and other security personnel of the Manila Arena.
The accused Julie Patidongan, Gleer Codilla, Mark Carlo Zabala, Virgilio Bayog, Johnny Consolacion, and Roberto Matillano Jr. – who are all security personnel of Manila Arena – are facing six counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
Cockfighters John Claude Inonog, Rondel Cristorum, Mark Joseph Velasco, Rowel Gomez, and brothers James Baccay and Marlon Baccay were last seen on January 13, 2022 after they left Tanay, Rizal to go to the Manila Arena, a cockfighting derby house.
A video footage showed the victims were forced by the accused to board a gray van at around 7:30 p.m.
Asked why an arrest warrant was needed following the cancellation of the suspects’ bail, Remulla said that an individual cannot be deprived of their liberty without any cause.
“You cannot deprive a person of liberty without any cause. And the best cause would be a warrant of arrest issued by a court,” he said.
