SPECIAL REPORT: Impunity Without Borders: From Maguindanao to Taal
Clarence May F. De Guzman of Unlinews / Patricio P. Diaz Fellow
BULACAN (MindaNews / 30 August) — “I hope that’s my brother, I hope that’s him, so at least we can finally put him to rest, and then, still get justice. Because this won’t just end with getting their bodies, someone really needs to be held accountable for what happened here,” Charlene Lasco, sister of missing cockfight enthusiast Ricardo Lasco, says of their long journey to find him. Ricardo was among 34 sabungeros who disappeared in a series of abductions between April 2021 and January 2022 in Luzon.
As the alleged perpetrators remain free from accountability and the penalties mandated by the law, Charlene and other relatives of the ‘missing sabungeros’ face months or even years of silence, their hopes revitalized by the statement of a whistleblower who was once a part of what made the disappearance of their loved ones possible.
Charlene’s hope to find and bury the remains of her missing brother is a testament to a deeper crisis looming over the nation: impunity reigns when justice is denied or long-delayed, and perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances are not punished.
In the latest World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Overall Index Score, the Philippines ranked 99th out of 142 countries worldwide in 2024, from 100th in 2023. On the issue of fundamental human rights, the Philippines ranked 118th.
Among 15 nations in East Asia and the Pacific, the Philippines ranked 13th overall, and 12th on the issue of human rights.
The Lost Sabungeros
A case defined by four years of agonizing silence has just been ripped open, because a suspect in the disappearance of the 34 sabungeros has now claimed what many had all feared: they were all murdered, and their bodies allegedly buried in Taal Lake.
From the plains of Central Luzon to the bustling Southern Tagalog Region, a quiet but profound anguish hangs in the air of more than dozens of homes, with families continuing to grieve yet still waiting for their loved ones’ return from what was supposed to be their regular cockfighting endeavors.
Since 2022, the year that news broke out of the disappearances of at least 34 cockfighting enthusiasts, the relatives of what headlines would dub the ‘Missing Sabungeros’ have been trapped in a limbo of frustration and mourning as recent developments point to their whereabouts in Taal Lake.
One can argue that this slow-motion tragedy, more than three years in the making, feels like a grim new chapter in the country’s history with recent news from Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla pointing to the complicity of the past administration in making it a possibility.
A pivotal turning point arrived with the emergence of Julie Patidongan, initially referred to as alias ‘Totoy,’ a whistleblower who, despite being an accused in the very same case, has bravely stepped forward with bombshell revelations.
Patidongan’s exclusive interviews have not only validated the long-held fears of the families that their loved ones were indeed killed and their bodies discarded somewhere in the country, but have also ripped open the veil of secrecy surrounding the organized criminal workings behind the abductions.
On July 14, 2025, Patidongan formally filed administrative complaints before the National Police Commission (Napolcom) against 12 active police officers, directly implicating them in the abductions, as he alleged that these officers were paid to seize the sabungeros from various locations and transport them to Taal Lake.
Patidongan then linked these police officers to the “war on drugs” of the Duterte administration, stating that their participation in carrying out extrajudicial killings meant they were open to be tapped in the abduction of the sabungeros.
Acting swiftly on Patidongan’s affidavit, Atty. Rafael Vicente Calinisan, Napolcom Vice Chair and Executive Officer told a press conference on July 29 that their organization has found probable cause to file administrative cases against the 12 implicated officers, with penalties ranging from suspension to outright dismissal.
The search and retrieval operations in Taal Lake, while temporarily hampered by adverse weather conditions, have since resumed after its initial attempt on July 10, with sacks containing blackened bones as a sign that whatever Patidongan is saying is not irrelevant, but a lead that authorities are taking seriously.
Ryan Bautista, brother of one of the missing sabungeros from San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, expressed gratitude for the recent breakthroughs in the case. Finally, after a long period of agonizing suspense, there is actually a foreseeable possibility of attaining justice for his brother and holding the perpetrators accountable for their crime.
“Sobrang saya namin kasi four years namin hinantay ito. Yung four years na yun puro paghihirap, talagang walang-wala kami. So ngayon ito naglilitawan na, nagkakaroon na ng linaw” (We’re overjoyed because we’ve waited for four years. All those four years were full of hardship, we had nothing. At least now it’s becoming clearer what happened).
In what felt like forever, the respective families of the missing sabungeros are beginning to embrace what could be hope in a case that was seemingly in limbo until somebody broke the silence.
Despite the still-present fear that those responsible will once again use their influence to absolve them of their crime, the families of the victims now pray that the scales of justice will not tilt in favor of the perpetrators.
“We’re really happy because our case is getting stronger and stronger. Hopefully, it will be in our favor,”Bautista said.
Ampatuan Massacre
The Filipino struggle against those in power who abuse their authority is not new, and for a group of people who have watched and waited for justice in Mindanao for over a decade, this chapter seems all too familiar.
In 2009, the issue of impunity in the Philippines attracted international headlines with the brutal Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao, a gruesome case of violence orchestrated by the powerful Ampatuan clan which led to the deaths of 58 persons, 32 of them from the media.
The decade-long wait that followed became a harsh lesson for many Filipinos on the true cost of demanding justice when the masterminds have the power and the means to deny it.
The prevailing themes of power-induced silence, a justice system straining under the weight of influence, reflect the scars of a massacre that took place hundreds of kilometers away in a town called Ampatuan, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.
How many today can still recall the striking photograph of an excavator looming over the buried remains of 58 persons and even some of their vehicles. Some of the victims were family members of Esmael Mangudadatu, then a candidate for Governor of Maguindano, 32 were media workers, and six were simply innocent civilians unaware of the danger that would befall them.
Beneath the surface of earth and murky waters
At first glance, the two events seem worlds apart: one involved the abductions of online cockfighting enthusiasts in Luzon, and the other a political convoy in Mindanao on their way to represent a gubernatorial candidate’s filing of candidacy.
Yet beneath the surface of earth and murky waters, lies a shared experience: the struggle of the ordinary Filipino against powerful, seemingly untouchable perpetrators.
The Ampatuan Massacre, an event seared into the nation’s collective memory, serves as a chilling precedent for underscoring the brutal realities of political power, where dissenting voices and even innocent bystanders could be silenced with impunity.
The sheer scale of the violence, and the blatant disregard for human life, left an indelible mark on the Filipino psyche as international attention even equated the dangers of being a Filipino journalist in their native country with those risking their lives to cover Iraq.
Long and arduous legal proceedings soon followed, spanning a decade until a verdict was finally reached on December 19, 2019 that epitomized the immense challenges faced by victims and their families in seeking justice against well-entrenched, influential figures who have embedded themselves in the dynasty-dominated politics of the Philippines.
Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 handed down the judgment on the suspects behind the massacre ten years earlier, with the principal masterminds Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr., his brother Andal Ampatuan, and Anwar Ampatuan Sr. found guilty beyond reasonable doubt for 57 counts of murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The 58th victim, Reynaldo Momay of Midland Review in Tacurong City, was not included because the court said that it “could not be ascertained” if Momay died or was missing after November 23, 2009 as no evidence of his actual death was adduced. “He has no cadaver and neither was his death certificate presented on record,” the court said.
The eventual convictions of some of the primary perpetrators, while a significant milestone, were hard-won and came after a decade of relentless advocacy and international attention.
Six years after the decision was handed down, however, the case has remained on appeal.
Impunity Knows No Borders
Dr. Reynaldo Naguit, historian and professor at the graduate school of Bulacan State University, dismissed as “bordering on nonsense and racism” allegations that impunity is an issue that can simply be identified with a singular region in the Philippines.
He cited common and unfounded stereotypes that arose as part of the increasingly polarized Filipino political environment due to rising regionalism, with narratives such as “You people in Mindanao, you are all terrorists” and “You people can get away with breaking the law in Luzon.”
Naguit said in the entire Philippines there are families who wield political power and are legitimate power holders because they are elected, referring to political dynasties who hold both political power as well as economic power.
Because they are so powerful, there are people ready to die for them, their private armies. They also have power over some agents of the state – the military and police – like what happened in the Ampatuan Massacre when the police were involved.
These dynasties are powerful like they were the Datus of the past. But Naguit stressed this is happening not just in Mindanao.
In the Ampatuan Massacre, Naguit said the Ampatuans wielded too much power in Maguindanao, with the blessings of their patrons in the national capital, “kaya nagagawa nila kung ano ang gusto nila gawin, kaya impunity sa Ingles” (so they could do what they wanted to do, impunity in English).
He then shared his perspective on how the Philippines could solve the issue of impunity, highlighting the role that the electorate plays.
“They fail to see what is right and what’s ought to be done. That’s why you have to study it. Look, the reports are already there, the sources are available. There’s a need, for a change of mind, a change in perspective, a viewpoint that you know is rooted in the spirit of the nation, in patriotism, (and shows that) you love the country,” Naguit said.
The harrowing abductions of the ‘missing sabungeros’ in Luzon and the brutal Ampatuan Massacre in Mindanao, though separated by two different political eras, bear the same reason for why such tragedies were even possible: the impunity wielded by those in power.
In 2009, it was a backhoe that became the grim symbol of impunity through electoral violence in the Philippines, as its metal workings unearthed the bodies of 58 innocents that the Ampatuan clan tried to bury and leave forgotten. Today, it’s the deep waters of Taal Lake and the sacks containing blackened bones, the alleged fate of the 34 missing cockfighting enthusiasts.
[Clarence May F. De Guzman / Unlinews. This story was produced under the Patricio P. Diaz Fellowship Program, implemented by the Mindanao Institute of Journalism and MindaNews under the Media Impact Philippines project. The program is supported by International Media Support (IMS) and co-funded by the European Union and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)]
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