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MANILA, Philippines — Fugitive tycoon Atong Ang has asked the Department of Justice to exclude him from the Manila Arena case involving the missing sabungeros.
In an interview with reporters on Monday, March 23, Ang's lawyer, Gabriel Villareal, said he contested the affidavit of self-proclaimed whistleblower Julie Patidongan on the last day of the reinvestigation of the Manila Arena case at the Department of Justice.
In a message to Philstar.com, Villareal said Patidongan recanted his earlier affidavits denying knowledge of and participation in the abduction of John Claude Inonog and the other cockfight enthusiasts who went missing at Manila Arena.
"He is now claiming that Atong Ang is the mastermind of the Inonog abduction," Villareal said.
The Manila Arena case is currently pending before the Manila Regional Trial Court.
Reopened probe
DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police initiated the reopening of the case.
He said the investigation proceeded anew specifically to identify individuals previously listed as "John Does," with the intent of formally charging them in the current trial once they are identified.
"The re-opened PI (preliminary investigation) can be conducted simultaneously because it will not affect the presentation of evidence against all the accused already named," Martinez said.
Villareal, meanwhile, said he has no information on Ang's whereabouts.
"I think at the proper time, when we should have exhausted all his legal remedies, he will face whatever is being brought up against him," Villareal said.
National Bureau of Investigation chief Melvin Matibag also said they have "informations" that they are validating about Ang's whereabouts.
"Tinitingnan pa namin. May nagsasabing nasa labas ng bansa; may nagsasabing nandito," he said in an ambush interview with reporters. (We are still looking into it. Some say he is out of the country; others say he is here.)
Different courts in Region IV-A have issued arrest warrants against Ang. Courts in Sta. Cruz, Laguna; Lipa, Batangas; and San Pablo City, Laguna, have issued arrest warrants against him.
