Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23) – Three former police officers implicated in the kidnapping of a missing e-sabong master agent surrendered to authorities, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Rodolfo Azurin confirmed Monday.
According to the police chief, the surrender of dismissed cops in Laguna last week is another breakthrough in the case.
The three former members of the police force – who are now under police custody – all have standing arrest warrants for charges of robbery, kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
READ: NCRPO relieves 11 cops linked to missing sabungeros case
Based on the report of Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon, chief of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG), the two cops surrendered on January 19 while the other cop turned himself in on January 21.
“We are looking for a good breakthrough especially if they are going to cooperate because medyo matagal na itong problema natin sa missing e-sabong na iniimbestigahan. I hope na itong mga pulis natin na ito would really cooperate,” says Azurin during a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
[Translation: We are looking for a good breakthrough especially if they are going to cooperate because we have had a problem with the missing e-sabong that is being investigated for quite some time now. I hope that our police officers would really cooperate.]
Azurin also assured the safety of the families of the accused.
“Of course the only assurance that we can give them is if we can see that their participation is lesser, then we can course them through the witness protection program and it will be the WPP who will be evaluating if they are qualified to be protected under the WPP program,” he added.
The three cops along with two other cops were dismissed from the service in December 2022 as the Internal Affairs Service has found substantial evidence on the administrative charges filed against them in relation to e-sabong agent Ricardo Lasco’s disappearance.
The case of Lasco is one of eight cases being handled by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Special Investigation Task Group “Sabungero,” which took the case for further investigation after the complaint for kidnapping filed by the victim’s family before the San Pablo City, Laguna prosecutor’s office was dismissed.
Lasco is still considered “missing” and the CIDG is probing the cases involving the disappearance of 34 other e-sabong enthusiasts since 2020.
