Remulla: Probers see ‘concerted effort' by a group behind missing sabungeros

Authorities see a concerted effort by a group behind the disappearance of 34 cockfight enthusiasts or “sabungero” last year, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Friday.

Remulla issued the remark when asked if he believed a criminal syndicate was behind this based on the information he received.

“Not yet at that level. But it’s a concerted effort. There looks to be a group behind it. May sinusundan silang ganun (they’re following a lead like that),” he said in an ambush interview.

For its part, the Philippine National Police said there is still no credible lead on the whereabouts of the sabungeros.

PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo also said they are looking into the possibility that one group is behind the disappearance.

Meanwhile, Remulla said he did not want to speculate who is the possible mastermind behind the missing sabungeros.

“That’s not my province. That’s not within the bounds of my job. We do not speculate in my job. We only find out based on evidence,” he said.

The Justice secretary earlier met with the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, and around 16 families of the missing sabungeros.

He said they agreed to hold regular dialogues regarding the case.

According to Remulla, authorities are currently working on eight clustered cases over the disappearance of the sabungeros.

“Ano yan e, we’re talking about eight cases, eight clustered cases. And I think four of them have been filed, some of them still have to be filed. There are leads in other cases that are still being followed up,” he said.

“May one case, 15 of them in one case. One day nangyari lahat e. Some of them kasi iba-iba. Iba-iba ang circumstances. So we’re talking about case number 1 to case number 8,” he later added.

(There’s one case, 15 of them in one case. It all happened in one day. Some are different circumstances. So we’re talking about case number 1 to case number 8.)

He said the eight clustered cases included the complaint filed on Thursday by the family of Michael Bautista, the sabungero identified to be handcuffed with two alleged policemen outside a cockfighting arena in Laguna.

Meanwhile, retired Master Sergeant Mario Velasco, the father of a missing sabungero, asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release the resolution on the case soon as a Christmas gift.

“Hiniling namin sa kanya sana pang Christmas niya sa amin na ilabas na ‘yung resolution. Nang sa ganon ay luminaw ang usaping ito at makamit namin kahit papaano ‘yung justice,” Velasco said.

(We asked him, as a Christmas gift, to release the resolution so that the issue will become clear and we will obtain justice.)

In response, Remulla said he cannot promise anything.

“I cannot promise anything that I cannot control. But I can urge them to resolve it in the soonest possible time,” he said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News