(UPDATED) FUGITIVE gambling tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang has left the Philippines through unofficial channels and was last reported in Cambodia, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Monday, raising questions about how the businessman allegedly evaded a massive manhunt despite multiple arrest warrants against him.
Remulla confirmed Ang’s departure on Tuesday, Oct. 20, saying the businessman had apparently used the “backdoor” to leave the country.
“We are confident that he is in that area,” Remulla said in an interview, referring to Cambodia.
Remulla also claimed Ang could have converted $3 billion into cryptocurrency, suggesting that the businessman had sufficient resources to facilitate his escape. The amount and alleged conversion were not independently verified in the reports.
Ang is facing nonbailable charges of kidnapping with homicide and kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection with the disappearance of 34 cockfight enthusiasts, or sabungeros, in 2021 and 2022.
The latest statements mark a shift from earlier government assessments of Ang’s whereabouts, with authorities previously saying they had no official record of his departure and were still verifying intelligence reports that he had gone abroad.
No immigration record
In January, Remulla said Ang might have fled to Cambodia or Thailand, where he was reportedly connected to online cockfighting operations.
The Bureau of Immigration, however, said it had no record of Ang leaving the country despite an immigration lookout bulletin issued against him.
Remulla acknowledged at the time that the possibility of an unofficial exit remained speculative because authorities had no solid proof that Ang was abroad.
In February, then-acting justice secretary Frederick Vida said intelligence indicated that Ang was still in the Philippines.
The Interior chief later reported that Ang had been spotted in Vietnam in April, citing intelligence information that was still being verified with Vietnamese authorities. Earlier reports also placed Ang in Calabarzon and Cavite.
These reported sightings have not, by themselves, established Ang’s whereabouts. Remulla’s latest statement is the clearest public assertion yet that the businessman has left the country.
P20-million reward
The government has raised the reward for information leading to Ang’s arrest to P20 million from P10 million.
Remulla announced the increase in February, saying the money would come from confidential funds provided to the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police.
Authorities have also pursued international cooperation to locate Ang, including efforts to obtain an Interpol Red Notice. Such a notice is a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted person, subject to the laws of each country.
Ang has not been found at properties linked to him, including his residence in Pasig City and other locations in Laguna and Batangas, according to earlier reports.
Ang is accused of masterminding the disappearance and alleged killing of cockfight enthusiasts suspected of involvement in game-fixing.
The cases stem from the disappearance of 34 sabungeros in 2021 and 2022. Investigators have pursued allegations that some victims were abducted and killed and that their bodies were disposed of, including in Taal Lake.
The allegations against Ang remain subject to judicial proceedings. His lawyer, Gabriel Villareal, previously challenged an arrest warrant as premature and legally questionable, arguing that the court had relied on incomplete information and had not adequately considered the defense’s counter-affidavits and exculpatory evidence.
Ang is one of several high-profile fugitives that have evaded arrest. Others include Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, former congressman Zaldy Co, former director general of the Bureau of Corrections, Gerald Bantag, and Rafael Dumlao, a former police officer convicted in connection with the 2016 kidnapping and murder of a South Korean businessman.
