MANILA, Philippines — A top executive of a foundation linked to fugitive gambling tycoon Charlie ‘Atong’ Ang on Thursday confirmed there were meetings that took place with the families and relatives of the missing ‘sabungeros’ (cockfight enthusiasts) because they approached her.
Interviewed by The Manila Times, lawyer Caroline Cruz, Ang’s legal counsel and Pitmaster Foundation executive director, admitted that she personally gave them money “but as a form of support for their causes.”
“I did not ask for anything in return for the financial support that I gave them. They signed nothing that would, in any way, be useful in the case,” Cruz said.
Saying her conscience is clean as she has nothing to hide, Cruz said she is more than willing to answer all the charges they levelled against her “if and when required by the proper legal forum.”
The top foundation executive likewise challenged the victims’ relatives to make public about their claim that they had an audio recording of their conversations.
Saying the first meeting took place at her Mandaluyong City office on April 20, Cruz clarified that she gave the members of the group she met with P20,000 each and not P40,000 as they claimed.
“I was surprised by their visit, but I welcomed them. It was a cordial meeting, if I am to describe it,” Cruz explained.
She recalled that the group was led by one Diane Loyola, a victim’s relative, who told her that they were meeting her in the hope that she could lead them to the truth about the case.
“I told them I am also in search of the truth, and honestly, that is the only reason why I allowed that unscheduled meeting to happen,” Cruz said.
Contrary to the group’s statement, she maintained she did not call them or ask anybody to arrange the meeting on her behalf. But in the course of her conversation with the group, Cruz said she was surprised that they didn’t know she was initially among those charged in the case.
“I was stunned by their reply when I offered that information to them. But since I also seek the truth, I became more convinced to set another meeting,” Cruz added.
She said she chose Edsa Shangri-La, located also in the city, to be the venue of their succeeding meeting because it’s a public place. She said she had already noticed that someone was secretly taking pictures of them but just ignored it since she was not hiding anything.
At the same time, she denied claims by the group that she arranged the trips of other members of the victims’ families to casinos and to a resort in Iba, Zambales.
While noting that some were complainants’ family members but not witnesses, Cruz said that as a lawyer, she knew that the victims’ relatives were not necessarily parties to the case.
“To ask for their recantation is not something that a sensible lawyer would even ask at this point. They are not even witnesses to the case, to begin with,” she pointed out.
This “blatant fact,” according to her, belies the group’s assertion that the money she gave was meant to silence them.
“When almost all of them started to talk about how difficult their lives are now after what they’ve been through, that’s the time when I offered them help without asking for anything,” Cruz said.
Moreover, she said she was surprised when they were showing P1,000 bills supposedly contained in the brown envelope when she could remember giving them money all in P500-peso denominations.
Asked about the group’s decision to reveal their meeting in public, Cruz said: “It could be part of continuing efforts by self-proclaimed whistleblower Julie Patidongan to muddle the case.”
