Palace: Marcos will spare no one in missing sabungeros' case
Published Jul 3, 2025 03:11 pm
President Marcos will neither spare, nor favor anyone involved in the disappearance of at least 34 “sabungeros” four years ago, Malacañang said.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (Santi San Juan/ MANILA BULLETIN)
After ordering the continuous and deeper investigation on the case of missing cockfight enthusiasts, Palace said Marcos vowed that no one will be spared behind the sabungeros' disappearance regardless of the involved individuals' status in life.
“Sinuman, anumang katayuan sa buhay, kung sila man ay personalidad na kinikilala, wala pong sisinuhin ang Pangulo at ang administrasyon (Whoever they are, whatever their status in life is, they may be well-known figures, the President and the administration will spare no one),” Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said on Thursday, July 3.
“Kung may dapat na panagutan dapat lamang pong maimbestigahan nang mabuti para mabigyan ng hustisya ang mga pamilya ng sinasabi nating missing sabungeros (If someone needs to be held accountable, they must be investigated thoroughly to give justice to the families of the so-called missing cockfighting enthusiasts),” Castro added.
Asked if the President would favor the possibility of making whistleblower “Totoy” —who has tagged high-profile individuals, including an actress, members of the police force, and even a former local government official, in the disappearances of the sabungeros who he said have already been killed and dumped in Taal Lake— as a state witness in the years-old case, Castro said they leave it up to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
She said it will depend on the assessment of the DOJ as they are the ones evaluating his testimony and that of other potential witnesses who could be made state witnesses.
“Depende po iyan sa kanilang katapangan, sa katotohanan ng sasabihin nila at iyong pagkakataon na mag-recant sila ng kanilang mga testimony. So dapat nandudoon iyong tapang at paninindigan na sabihin ang katotohanan (It will depend on their courage, the truthfulness of what they will say, and the possibility that they might recant their testimonies. So there must be courage and determination to speak the truth),” Castro said.
The sabungeros went missing from April 2021 to January 2022 in various cockfighting arenas and the victims’ homes in Laguna, Batangas, Manila, and Bulacan.