The Fall of Boss AA?

Atong Ang | Photo from GMA Network

In an article by Asia Sentinel, Tita C. Valderama writes about the demise of gambling boss Charlie “Atong” Ang over missing sambungeros or cockfighting enthusiasts.

After years of stalled inquiries, shifting testimonies and political push-and-pull, the law appears to be closing in on the influential gambling and cockfighting tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang, one of the Philippines’ most powerful figures, with decades of rumored clout to influence people at the top of the Philippine power structure, including the former head of the Philippine Judges Association, appellate and Supreme Court justices and former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Department of Justice is expected to file multiple criminal cases over the disappearance and presumed killings of dozens of cockfight bettors who reportedly ripped him off between 2021 and 2022 and ended up in sacks at the bottom of the scenic volcanic Lake Taal 70 km south of Manila, around which movie stars, tycoons and politicians have built luxurious homes.

The 67-year-old Ang, long feared and favored in the gambling world but nonetheless linked to a parade of Filipino actresses, was once jailed in the Philippines’ massive plunder case involving former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada but escaped punishment, as he has a host of other alleged offenses. He is nonetheless poised to face some of the most serious charges filed against him yet. Actress Gretchen Barretto, named as a person of interest alongside Ang, sparking controversy and denials of a romantic relationship, escaped indictment.

Courts in Batangas and Laguna are expected to issue arrest warrants soon for Ang and more than 20 others, including 15 police officers allegedly linked to abductions that, investigators say, ended with as many as 109 bodies being dumped into the 198-meter-deep lake. Police divers spent weeks earlier this year combing the lake bottom for the bodies.