Cops form team to hunt down security guards

Missing manila arena sabungeros:

MANILA, Philippines — Police have formed a tracker team to locate the suspects behind the disappearance of six cockfight aficionados at the Manila Arena last year.

In a chance interview yesterday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is on the lookout for security guards Julie Patidongan, Gleer Codilla, Mark Carlo Zabala, Virgilio Bayog, Johnry Consolacion and Roberto Matillano Jr.

They face kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors before the Manila Regional Trial Court.

The security guards were accused of conspiring to kidnap sabungeros John Claude Inonog, James Baccay, Marlon Baccay, Rondel Cristorum, Mark Joseph Velasco and Rowel Gomez, who were supposed to go to a six-cock derby at the Manila Arena before their disappearance on Jan. 13, 2022.

At least 34 sabungeros have been missing since 2021. Their disappearance, which was the subject of a Senate investigation last year, prompted a nationwide suspension of the online cockfighting games.

The DOJ on Thursday met with the families of the missing because the department does not want their plight to be forgotten, Remulla said.

“It’s something that we should just not forget at all. The 34 missing people have families who are looking for them up to now. The law should never forget people who may have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, as victims of criminal activity,” Remulla said.

There is a need to form tracker teams to serve the warrants against the suspects and put them under the jurisdiction of the court, Remulla said.

Meanwhile, the San Pablo City Regional Trial Court has begun hearing the cases against three former police officers – Cpl. Roy Navarette, Pat. Rigel Brosas and Cpl. Daryl Paghangaan – who allegedly posed as National Bureau of Investigation agents in kidnapping online cockfight agent Ricardo Lasco in Laguna on Aug. 30, 2021.