Two sacks of human skeletal remains suspected to be those of the “missing sabungeros” were found in Taal Lake in Batangas on Thursday, July 17, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said.

Remulla said the location of the recovered sacks was pinpointed by boatmen who were identified by accused and turned whistleblower Julie “Dondon” Patidongan alias “Totoy.”

He said that cursory examinations of the contents of the two sacks showed that they were clearly human skeletal remains and included “yung ribs ng tao (human ribs).”

He also said the two other sacks recovered contained sand and believed used as weights to keep the other sacks at the lake bed.

Remulla said the recovery of the two sacks with human skeletal remains shows that it is “a positive indication that he (Patidongan) knew what he was talking about.”

Meanwhile, Remulla said that authorities have exhumed from a cemetery in Batangas the remains of three persons who are suspected to be involved in online cockfighting or e-sabong who went missing in 2020 in Lipa, Batangas.

He said the exhumed remains were recovered from Taal Lake in 2020 and the recovery was covered by a police report. “Pag-aaralan namin yong police report (we will study the police report),” he also said.

He explained that the police decided to bury the bodies in the cemetery after they remained unclaimed by relatives from the funeral parlor.

One of those buried, he said, must be a woman because of the kind of underwear found.

Also, Remulla said there was also a basketball jersey which, according to an undisclosed witness, could have belonged to one of the persons who went missing in 2020.