Who Was Iloilo’s Atong Ang?

By Alex P. Vidal 

“The cock does not just crow! It crows for a reason. Do not just concentrate on the cock crowing and mind the reason why it crows” —Author Unknown 

SOMETIME in February 1991, two cockfight enthusiasts (sabungeros in Tagalog or manog bulang in Hiligaynon) were murdered at past 8 o‘clock in the evening near the popular chicken house in Fort San Pedro, Iloilo City in the Philippines.

Ricardo and Jonathan (not their real names) were drinking beer in one table when a lone gunman approached and peppered them with bullets. They died on the spot from fatal gunshot wounds, according to police reports.

After receiving tips from witnesses, then Iloilo Police Metro District Command (Metrodiscom) chief, the late former city councilor, Colonel Achilles Plagata, and his men immediately proceeded to Iloilo St. Paul Hospital to arrest the suspect, Enrique (not his real name), who was “confined.”

But Enrique’s older brother, Pacquito (not his real name), a lawyer, prevented Plagata and his men from entering the “patient’s” room.

I was with Pacquito, who asked me hours earlier to accompany him to that hospital “to visit my sick brother.”

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Suspicious, Enrique initially did not want me to enter his room, but Pacquito assured him I was not a hostile guest and let me in.

Pacquito said his brother Enrique was rushed to that hospital the same evening because of hyperthermia, which can manifest as heat exhaustion or, in its most severe form, heat stroke. Hyperthermia is characterized by a core body temperature above the normal range, often above 104°F (40°C), and can be caused by exposure to high heat or strenuous physical activity.

While we were inside, the policemen led by Plagata arrived and threatened to barge in forcefully if Pacquito and Enrique wouldn’t open the door.

The cops said they were there to implement a “hot pursuit operation” against a suspected killer, they referred to as Enrique.

“Yuta nio eh ako pa kuwaan nio ulo. Naano ina sia? Init lawas ya? Naton gin daskan nio lang sibuyas buli ya para mag init lawas ya.” (SOB, stop fooling me. His whole body is only heating up because you inserted onions inside his anus),” barked Plagata, who insisted to arrest Enrique.

Pacquito, invoking Enrique’s “basic” rights, tried to stop Plagata and his cops from arresting Enrique to no avail.

To make the long story short, police were able to successfully remove Enrique from his hospital bed and brought him to the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO).

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Police theorized Enrique went to the hospital several hours after allegedly killing Ricardo and Jonathan “pretending” he was ill. How he was able to immediately secure a private room boggled Plagata’s mind.

If he was the one who pulled the trigger in the crime scene that occurred some four kilometers away (estimated distance between Fort San Pedro and the hospital on Gen. Luna St., City Proper), why did Enrique allegedly shoot and kill Ricardo and Jonathan?

Investigations that followed said the victims, who weren’t originally from Iloilo City, had been accused of cheating or game-fixing in a derby in a Jaro cockpit days earlier.

Enrique was allegedly “tasked” to follow and give them a “disciplinary action” until he was able to find the “perfect” opportunity to mow them down.

Other versions claimed Enrique and the two victims only accidentally met in the crime scene for the first time and the suspect, a known trigger-happy maniac in his neighborhood, shot them after they gave him a dagger look, a version Plagata and his investigators had shunned.

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The families of Ricardo and Jonathan failed to get justice for the slain sabungeros or manog bulang after Enrique was killed in a shootout with relatives after corrupt jail guards allowed him to attend a family party during a holiday.

We remember the case of Ricardo and Jonathan now that the Department of Justice (DoJ) is investigating the case of the 34 sabungeros in Metro Manila kidnapped, killed, and “most likely” dumped in Taal Lake, Batangas.

Witness Julie “Totoy” Patidongan, claimed that businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang is the mastermind behind the disappearances, while former actress and Ang’s investor Gretchen Barretto allegedly voted on the kidnappings.

If Enrique was Iloilo’s Patidongan, who was Iloilo’s Atong Ang?

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines. – Ed)