Claiming that the charges of murder, illegal detention, kidnapping, direct bribery and tampering of passport filed by the families of the missing cockfight enthusiasts did not undergo proper case build-up, businessman Atong Ang yesterday asked the Department of Justice to remand the case to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Accompanied by lawyer Gabriel Villareal, Ang filed his counter-affidavit and asked the panel of prosecutors to remand the cases ‘for proper and impartial investigation.’
‘Because as I said, if the case would just be dismissed at Mr. Ang’s request, that would make him happy, that would be fine for him. However, there would still be doubt and suspicion in people’s minds about who is truly responsible for the missing cockfighting enthusiasts and where they truly are,’ Villareal said.
‘We are asking for a proper case build-up, a fair, impartial investigation. Otherwise, it will always be the talk of the town that Mr. Ang is behind this. So it’s better that it is properly investigated so that once and for all, it can be shown who is really responsible for these missing sabungeros,’ Villareal said.
He added there are universal serial bus or USBs, which contain the ‘strongest evidence’ against whistleblower Julie ‘Don-Don’ Patidongan.
‘One of the USBs submitted by CIDG shows Don-Don undeniably – although he was denying it – manhandling one of the missing sabungeros, who was handcuffed. It was caught on video by the media,’ Villareal said in a mix of English and Filipino.