The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) resumed on Friday morning, July 11, its search and retrieval operations at Taal Lake in Batangas in hopes of finding the remains of the 34 missing cockfighters (sabungeros).

Three dive teams composed of 13 members were deployed to separate dive points approximately 52 to 72 feet away from the shoreline of Barangay Balakilong in Laurel town as early as 6 a.m.

The divers in the first wave reached depths ranging from 16 to 21.8 meters but found no human remains. A second dive was scheduled in the afternoon.

“Isa sa kinoconsider is ‘yung panahon. Mas maaga, mas maganda maconduct ang dive operation kasi usually masama ang panahon at lumalakas ang current pagdating ng hapon (One of the factors being considered is the weather. The earlier the dive operation can be conducted, the better, because the weather usually worsens and the current gets stronger in the afternoon),” PCG spokesperson Captain Noemie Cayabyab said.

Among the challenges being faced by the divers is the poor visibility caused by the murky waters at the bottom the lake.

This prompted the PCG to develop a search pattern covering an area of 100 meters by 100 meters from the identified location of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

According to Cayabyab, the divers would search the identified area either in a seaward or leeward pattern.

A seaward search moves away from the shore and toward open water, and is used when there's reason to believe the object or person being searched for drifted out to sea due to current or wind.

Meanwhile, leeward means the downwind side or opposite the direction from which the wind is blowing. Based on the assumption that wind or current has carried the target downwind, the search pattern focuses on areas in the direction the wind is blowing toward.

The divers were directed to focus their search on the site 100 to 270 meters from the lake shore.

This was within the search area of the PCG where a sack containing blackened remains was found by PCG divers during the initial dive assessment on Thursday.

“It needs to be validated and verified. I'm not in a position to say anything sa ganyang aspeto (in that aspect). We’ll just need to support and there’s a right agency that needs to give verification,” Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, commander of the Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog (CGDST), said.

The sack was found 10 meters from the shoreline of Taal Lake, where whistleblower Julie “Totoy/Dondon” Patidongan claimed was the dumpsite of the missing sabungeros’ remains, who had already been allegedly killed.

The sack and its contents were turned over by the PNP, Department of Justice (DOJ), and PCG to the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) Calabarzon Police Regional Office (PRO-4A) for forensic examination.

“All the possible items or any suspected materials that we will be able to get there na unusual (that are unusual), we will try to get it. But there was poor visibility sa bottom (at the bottom of the lake),” Tuvilla noted.