THE number of missing “sabungeros” now rose to 31 as the Philippine National Police yesterday said its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has scored some significant breakthroughs in its ongoing probe into the case.
PNP chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos expressed optimism that a major breakthrough in the investigation is forthcoming after a significant headway was achieved recently in the investigation.
Carlos said the Special Investigation Task Group is investigating 31 missing person cases, with the additional two, following sworn statements of relatives of the victims, and other cockfighting afficionados who participated in a derby in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on May 11, 2021.
PNP-CIDG director Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro said that based on the revelations, there were two groups of cockfighting aficionados from Bulacan who participated in the event.
The first group went to the arena on May 10, 2021 while the second group arrived the following day.
Ferro said that they have found out from witnesses’ accounts that when the first group was about to leave the arena, the second group borrowed their “mananari,” alias “Nerio,” to assist them in the cockfight.
The other missing person, an alias “Buddy,” was also recruited by the same second group before he also went missing that day, said the PNP-CIDG chief.
Ferro said that continuous and close coordination with different banks are being done by the SITG to find out clues, including CCTV footages of unidentified persons, who made a number of ATM cash withdrawals using the ATM cards of some of the missing persons
The new leads into the case came amid proposals for the PNP to launch a “reward system” for informants amid the ongoing investigation into the cases of 26 missing “sabungeros” and the deadly attacks on a number of Bureau of Customs personnel since last year.
