Case of missing sabungeros: Patidongan’s brothers under police custody

MANILA, Philippines — The brothers of whistleblower Julie Patidongan, believed to be the missing links in the probe on the kidnapping and disappearance of cockfight enthusiasts or sabungeros, are now under the custody of the Philippine National Police.

PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said yesterday that siblings Jose and Elakim Patidongan were extracted from a Southeast Asian country by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration and were brought back to the Philippines on July 22.

Fajardo said Elakim was the one caught on closed-circuit television withdrawing money from an automated teller machine using the ATM account of Melbert John Santos, one of the sabungeros forcibly taken from a cockpit arena in Sta. Cruz, Laguna in January 2022.

Jose, meanwhile, was among the people who kidnapped cockfight player Michael Bautista from the same arena in Laguna in April 2021, an incident that was also caught on video.

Fajardo credited the capture of the Patidongan brothers to former CIDG director Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, an intelligence officer who was instrumental in the arrests of disgraced former Bamban mayor Alice Guo and Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder and alleged sex offender Apollo Quiboloy.

As the siblings played a crucial role in the disappearance of two sabungeros, Fajardo said Macapaz made sure they are placed under the government’s custody.

“They took (custody of) the two with no fanfare because these two gentlemen are very critical in the investigation,” Fajardo said.

According to Fajardo, the Patidongan brothers could corroborate the revelations of Julie as they had direct participation in the kidnapping of two cockfighting enthusiasts.

A background investigation on Jose showed he was convicted of robbery by a regional trial court in Mandaluyong City. He also has a pending warrant of arrest – an order that the CIDG complied with.

Fajardo said the CIDG filed cases against Elakim for using a passport under the name Robert Baylon.

“It was a legal strategy on the part of the CIDG to file a complaint. Otherwise, they can be charged for arbitrary detention,” Fajardo said.

PNP defends Macapaz

Macapaz has been accused of muddling the investigation into the case of missing sabungeros. But the PNP defended him, saying police would not have tracked down the location of Patidongan’s brothers if not for the efforts of Macapaz.

Fajardo noted that when Macapaz became CIDG director on June 19, he worked on bringing Julie’s siblings back to the country through his intelligence sources, and delivered results in just over a month.

“It is very unfair (for) General Macapaz, in the light of allegations that he is trying to muddle the investigation. In reality, the man is working,” Fajardo said.

She added that Macapaz had reservations when PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III asked him to lead the CIDG, a post for a two-star general, as he is set to retire in less than a year and is no longer qualified to be promoted to major general.

He relented and eventually agreed to be appointed as CIDG director. However, Macapaz requested to be transferred to another post to give way to other generals who are qualified for promotion.

Torre appointed Macapaz as director of the Police Regional Office 12, which has operational control and supervision over the police units in South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces and General Santos City.

Asked about Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla’s comment that he asked for the removal of a service director of the CIDG, Fajardo said there was no instruction for Torre to remove Macapaz.

“No one and nobody can dictate on the PNP chief (on where to assign police officers),” Fajardo said.

No DNA profiles

Meanwhile, Fajardo said identifying the human remains extracted from Taal Lake in Batangas remains a challenge as no DNA profile could be extracted from the bones of the victims due to the long period that the remains have been submerged.

Julie Patidongan earlier revealed that the cockfighting enthusiasts allegedly killed on orders of gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang were buried in Taal Lake.

Patidongan said up to 108 sabungeros who cheated in the games were killed. At least 34 were identified by their families who have come forward.

As for the DNA profiles from the three remains exhumed from a cemetery in Batangas, Fajardo said these did not match with the profiles submitted by 23 relatives of the sabungeros.

She urged people with missing relatives to coordinate with the police for possible identification of the three victims.