Slippery as he can be, the manhunt for fugitive gambling tycoon Charlie “Atong’’ Ang will be relentless after authorities narrowly missed the opportunity of arresting him in the country, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) assured on Monday, April 13.

Following the near arrest, DILG Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic’’ Remulla confirmed the actual report of an “eyeball contact’’ which means Ang was seen in person.

“Immediately, gumawa kami ng follow-up operations. Namintis namin. So ang last report ay nakita siya rito sa Pilipinas. I was personally part of the raiding team. Pumunta ako mismo pero hindi namin siya naabutan (Immediately, we made follow-up operations. We missed him. So the last report was that he was seen here in the Philippines. I was personally part of the raiding team. I went to the location myself but we failed to apprehend him), Remulla said.

When pressed further, Remulla remained mum on the location where Ang was spotted.

Remulla admitted anew that Ang’s influence and strong connections to various government agencies are major stumbling blocks to his capture.

He lamented the extreme difficulty to get the services of trusted government comrades with Ang’s estimated P1 billion a day earnings for five years in on-line gambling.

“Pinakamahirap na bahagi ng trabaho ko yung penetration niya sa lahat ng hanay ng gobyerno. Sa dami ng pera niya ang hirap maghanap ngayon ng katiwala na bigyan ka ng solid na trabaho para mahanap siya (The most difficult part of my job is his “penetration’’ in all of the government agencies. With his huge wealth, it is even tougher now for a partner to provide you with solid work),’’ Remulla said.

Ang went missing after a court issued an arrest warrant against him for the cases of the disappearance of cockfighting enthusiasts (sabungeros), kidnapping with serious illegal detention and kidnapping with homicide, which are non-bailable offenses.

The reward for information leading to Ang’s arrest is P20 million.