Estomo part of Atong’s alpha group, Totoy insists

MANILA, Philippines —  After accusing retired Lt. Gen. Jonnel Estomo of being one of the co-conspirators in the disappearance of cockfighting enthusiasts, Julie Patidongan, alias Totoy, has now tagged the former National Capital Region Police Office chief as a member of Charlie “Atong” Ang’s alleged “alpha group.”

“General Estomo is a member of alpha (group). His name is just below the radar,” Patidongan said yesterday in an interview over dzRH.

Estomo has publicly denied the allegations, and vowed to sue Patidongan for maligning his name.

The whistleblower added that Ang announced to members of the alpha group the need to kill sabungeros caught cheating in their games.

“Mr. Atong Ang said if we won’t do this (murder), our business will lose money,” Patidongan said.

Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla vowed to hold accountable members of the alpha group, regardless if they are high-ranking government officials as long as there is concrete evidence.

“No sacred cows. Whether mayor, governor or senator, as long as they are members of the alpha group, anyone involved will be charged,” he told reporters in an interview at Camp Crame.

Patidongan said a lawyer and a congressman are also part of the group, as well as actress Gretchen Barretto.

Remulla said Patidongan provided a list of the names of the alpha group members, which are now with the Department of Justice headed by his brother, Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.

The National Police Commission, which Remulla chairs, has sent out summons to the 12 active police officers whom Patidongan implicated in the case. They have five days upon receipt of the order to file their counter-affidavits.

Search expanded

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has expanded its search and retrieval operation at Taal Lake and would soon complete the first quadrant of the search area, PCG spokesperson Capt. Noemie Cayabyab told One News yesterday.

“We have expanded the search area from the initial 100 meters x 100 meters, now it’s 300 meters x 186 meters. Since we have a wider coverage of the search area, we made it by quadrant. We are about to complete the search area for the first quadrant,” she said.

She explained that they widened the search area “to expand as well the possibility of locating objects that may help the conduct of investigation.”

The Coast Guard official also said that identifying their search area was not only based on the testimony of whistleblower Patidongan who said that the missing sabungeros were allegedly killed in a slaughterhouse near a fishpond.

“The location of what we have now is taken from the intelligence information that came from the lead agency,” she said.

She also said that considering the “vastness of the Taal Lake, if our divers would search (the entire lake) it will take the Coast Guard years, that is why we placed additional resources.”

Aside from the 49 PCG technical divers, they added their remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to help cope with the mission.

3 bodies being exhumed

Justice Secretary Remulla said authorities are exhuming at least three bodies in Batangas as part of the ongoing search for the missing sabungeros.

Remulla said these remains could either be connected to the sabungeros or the drug war of the previous administration.

“Those three bodies found in one part of Batangas that were not claimed, the usual protocol is that the police has them buried if no one claims them from the funeral home. Now, we are having these bodies exhumed,” he said in a chance interview.

He added that authorities are setting up a “DNA bank” to identify the exhumed remains, as well as those found by the PCG in Taal Lake.

Remulla also said they are looking into locations that may have also been used as dumping sites for drug war killings, maintaining that the missing sabungeros case and the drug war deaths are linked due to similarities in the people and methods used. – Evelyn Macairan, Daphne Galvez, Bella Cariaso, Edith Regalado, Marc Jayson Cayabyab