There could be about 100 “sabungeros” or cockfight enthusiasts who have been killed since 2021 for a fee of P500,000 each killing, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said on Wednesday, June 25.

Remulla said a suspect has alleged that “there are more than 34; there must be a hundred of them.”

The suspect, who is now in custody and who plans to turn state witness, had earlier been identified as a certain “Totoy,” a security guard of the Manila Arena.

“Totoy,” who was described as one of the trusted persons of the killers, had earlier revealed that some of the missing victims, who were alleged cheaters in cockfighting games, were killed and dumped into Taal Lake in Batangas.

Remulla said the case of the “sabungeros” needs the attention of the people and the country as whole.

He said he learned from “Totoy” that there were vouchers given to killers so they could be paid for the job.

“They received P500,000 for every person they killed,” he also said quoting from the statements of “Totoy.”

At the same time, Remulla said the investigation also deals with politicians reportedly affiliated with the group. He did not elaborate.

Thus, he said, the probe is on what the investigators believe is perpetrated by an organized group which raked million of pesos from the lucrative online cockfight industry known as e-sabong.

He admitted that it is very hard to probe cases involving an organized crime group “but we are not back down from this.”

At the moment, Remulla said the DOJ has asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to reverse the ruling of Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 40 that granted bail to six accused including “Totoy” for six counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention involving six missing “sabungeros” -- Mark Joseph Velasco, Marlon Baccay, James Baccay, Rowel Gomez, John Claude Inonog, and Rondel Cristorum.

Those granted bail were Julie Patidongan, Mark Carlo Zabala, Virgilio Bayog, Roberto Matillano Jr., Gleer Cordilla and Johnry Consolacion.

In the meantime, Remulla said the DOJ will ask the Japanese government for assistance in searching the bodies reportedly dumped into Taal Lake.

“I have instructed my staff to draft a letter to the Japanese government and to ask for their ROVs, remote operating vehicles, at ‘yung mga equipment na kasama nito para ma-map natin ang bed ng Taal Lake para makita natin kung anong mga sediments ang pwede natin tingnan at istorbuhin para mahanap natin ang ating hinahanap (and the included equipment so we can map the bed of Taal Lake so we can see the sediments and determine where we can conduct the search and hopefully find what we are looking for),” he also said.