The Philippine National Police (PNP) released on Friday, Feb. 17, a wanted poster against the six security guards tagged in the case of six “sabungeros” or cockfighters who went missing in Manila last year.
Police Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., director of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), identified the suspects as Julie A. Patidongon alias “Dondon,” 45; Mark Carlo Zabala, 29; Roberto G. Matillano Jr., 54; Johnry R. Consolacion, 33; Virgilio P. Bayog, 44; and Gleer Codilla alias Gler Cudilla, all are security personnel at the Manila Arena.
The six security guards are believed to be behind the disappearance of James Baccay, Marlon Baccay, Claude Inonog, Mark Joseph Velasco, Rowel Gomez, and Rondel Cristorum at the Manila Arena in January 2022.
Each of the suspects has a bounty of P1 million on their head, or a total of P6 million for the group. The arrest warrants for kidnapping and serious illegal detention have already been filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against them before the Manila City Regional Trial Court last week.
“The publication of the poster of the six wanted persons was based on the proclamation of DOJ Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla during his meeting with the CIDG and the families of the victims wherein he offered P6 million reward for the arrest of the accused,” Caramat said in a statement.
“Kami ay umaasa na sa pamamagitan ng mga posters na ito at sa impormasyon na magmumula sa ating mga kababayan ay mapapabilis natin na matutunton ang kanilang pinagtataguan at agarang pagkahuli ng mga akusado (We are hoping that through these posters and the information coming from the public, we will swiftly determine the locations of the accused and arrest them),” he added.
The posters will be distributed nationwide and posted in all PNP units, places of convergence, social media, and website of the CIDG to fasttrack the location of the suspects.
It can be recalled that the six cockfighters went missing on Jan. 13, 2022 after supposedly leaving Tanay, Rizal to participate in a cockfight in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
After a thorough investigation and help from the CIDG, the DOJ found out in December 2022 that the six suspects allegedly acted in conspiracy to bring the cockfighters to Manila Arena where they were held against their will.
The victims were reportedly seen by witnesses being forced to board a gray van. They have never been seen since then but one of the victims, Claude Inonog, allegedly managed to call his father and told him they were being abducted.
The Manila Areana case is one of the eight cases of abduction of cockfights being investigated by the CIDG through the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) "Sabungero."
So far, the courts have favored the criminal complaints filed by the CIDG in two of the eight cases. These are the Manila Arena case and the Lasco case which involved the disappearance of cockfight Ricardo Lasco in Laguna in August 2021 involving three policemen.