Tears, fears hound parents of missing ‘sabungeros’; Bato says he will ask Duterte to put a stop to ‘e-sabong’ (Sabong News)

Some parents of the missing online cockfight enthusiasts on Thursday made an emotional appeal to the Senate as they decried law enforcement authorities’ failure to solve the disappareance of their loved ones. At the Senate public order and dangerous drugs hearing on the missing 31 cockfighters, the father of John Claude Inonog, Butch Inonog, said the last time he spoke to his son was in January 13 at around 7:45 p.m. John, along with five other persons, were last seen in January 13, at the Manila Arena. According to Butch, he was able to talk to his son over the phone saying in an alarmed voice that he is being abducted. When he asked his son what was the problem, somebody shouted and took away his son’s phone. “Bigla pong may umagaw ng telepono niya,” the distraught father told the Senate panel chaired by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. However, Butch clarified his son is not into online betting, nor was he a cockfight player, but was merely a driver who was hired to arrange vehicles used by the players. Isabelita Baccay also turned emotional when she talked about her missing sons Marlon and James. “Ano po bang kasalanan? Anong nangyari? Sino kumuha? Saan dinala? Anong ginawa nila hanggang ngayon ‘di namin alam (What did they do wrong? What happened? Who abducte dthem? Where are they? What was done to them? Until now we have no idea),” Baccay told the panel as she broke down into tears during the hearing, complaining that the cockfighting operators refused to cooperate with the investigation. Merlyn Gomez, the mother of Rowel Gomez, told senators the reason why her son went to the cockpit arena was to earn money so they can pay some hospital bills for her second child who is in the hospital since they cannot afford it. “Ang sabi ko sa anak ko ‘wag ka na lang pumunta, asikasuhin mo na lang baka madala sa promissory note (I told my son not to go and they might just submit a promissory note),” said Merlyn, whose son said works as a gaffer. Merlyn appealed to Dela Rosa to intensify the investigation into the disappearances of their sons. As the hearing progressed, Dela Rosa said hearing the testimonies of the victims families and the ongoing developments and investigation of the police on the cases made him resolute to approach President Duterte to temporarily stop all “e-sabong” operations. Dela Rosa said the actions of the kidnappers, as shown by the police in various videos footages, show the brazenness of the suspects in the abduction of the cockfight players. “Sana matumbok na natin ito Chief PNP, wag kayo matulog…nakakatakot ito. Papasukin sa bahay tapos akala mo mga legal na mga law enorcement officers. Parang trophy pa dala dala yung mga tao (I hope we can solve this Chief PNP, don’t sleep on this.. this is worrisome. They could even enter houses and act like they are legal law enforcement officers. As if the people they held were like trophies),” Dela Rosa told PNP Chief Dionardo Carlos. “Kaya the more nagre-report kayo sa update the more ako talagang desidido kaupsain si presidente na ihinto muna itong e-sabong na ito (The more you report on updates about this, the more I am resolute to discuss with the President to put a stop to this online cockfighting),” he said.