BJMP: 3 jails ready for Atong Ang
MANILA, Philippines — Three detention facilities have been prepared for Charlie “Atong” Ang, even as the many tips so far received by authorities regarding his possible whereabouts have failed to locate the fugitive businessman.
Ang is wanted for kidnapping charges before courts in Santa Cruz and Los Baños in Laguna province and in Lipa City, Batangas province, in connection with the disappearance of at least 34 cockfighting aficionados or “sabungeros.”
“We’ve prepared three facilities there: the Santa Cruz District Jail, Lipa City Jail and the San Pablo City Jail. He has cases in three courts,” Supt. Jayrex Bustinera, spokesperson for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), told dzBB on Monday.
READ: Notary public who signed affidavit for Atong Ang’s lost gun summoned
“The Santa Cruz [court] was the first to issue [an arrest] warrant. That’s why we prepared [an area for him] in the Santa Cruz District Jail. It’s a little old compared with the other facilities,” Bustinera said.
Tips
Earlier on Monday, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police said it had received as many as 40 tips regarding Ang’s possible whereabouts but had yet to validate all that information.
According to Col. John Guiagui, chief of the CIDG in Metro Manila, the tips mostly pointed to locations in Cavite, Batangas and Laguna provinces and in the Bicol region and Metro Manila—including a home in Pasig City, two properties in Mandaluyong City and a penthouse in Quezon City.
“Other tips are about Ang alighting from a car, visiting a farm raising game fowl and being delivered expensive seafood,” Guiagui said, adding that they got these tips before the courts issued the warrants.
Ang ‘prepared’
Authorities are still looking into three more locations in Metro Manila, but Guiagui declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing operations.
He said Ang “really prepared for this. When I entered his house, it was really clean.”
Asked about reports that Ang could be hiding in Mindanao, Guiagui said the police were validating all information.
Meanwhile, the businessman’s camp maintained that the arrest warrants are “premature” and “legally questionable.” All 21 of Ang’s coaccused have been arrested. /cb
