Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa (PHOTO FROM VIDEO OF SENATE PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Gambling operator Charlie “Atong” Ang, who has been embroiled in many gambling-related issues, should provide “compelling reasons” for the Senate to summon other personalities over the disappearance of 34 e-sabong (online cockfighting) aficionados, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said on Saturday.
Dela Rosa gave Ang the cold shoulder after he claimed that rival operators, among them alleged Pampanga gambling lord Bong Pineda and retired Philippine National Police chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan, were behind a conspiracy to vilify Ang’s company, Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc.
The chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, who headed the inquiry into the alleged abduction of the missing persons, reiterated that the senators were not singling out Ang.
“How can he be a victim [of conspiracy]? I don’t see any reason why the investigation should not focus on him,” Dela Rosa said in a radio interview.
“The investigation is focused on him because he owns the three cockpit arenas where the missing individuals were last seen alive,” he pointed out.
He said he was not keen on acceding to Ang’s request to summon Pineda, Cascolan and other owners of e-sabong companies to the next Senate hearing.
Dela Rosa, himself a former PNP chief, is a “mistah” (classmate) of Cascolan in Philippine Military Class 1986.
“I don’t see any reason why I should do that. Besides, representatives of other licensees have attended the hearing,” he said.
“He (Ang) should give me compelling reasons why I should summon the others. It’s easy to do that if he has evidence [to back up his allegations],” he added. “I don’t want to waste the time of the committee and be misled in our investigation.”
Testifying during the hearing on Friday, Ang accused other cockfighting operators of ganging up on him by waging a “trial by publicity” against his company.
Ang disclosed that Lucky 8 had been collecting up to P60 billion a month in bets and earns about P3 billion monthly from its operations.
He identified his main rivals as Pineda, Cascolan, a certain Rep. Teves, former Agbiag party list Rep. Patrick Antonio and Mayor Elan Nagaño of San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija.
Dela Rosa did not hide his disappointment over the reluctance of the national government to pull the plug on the online cockfighting operations, which had become popular during the pandemic when cockpit arenas were closed down.
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