Taal Lake ops for missing sabungeros suspended due to bad weather
Justice spokesperson Atty. Mico Clavano said the operation was suspended at 9:29 a.m.
'Coast Guard Underwater Search Operations utilizing its Tech Divers and ROV was temporarily placed on standby due to continuous rainfall and surface runoff from the nearby river,' he said in a statement.
'Elevated turbidity levels significantly reduced underwater visibility, resulting in unfavorable condition for the conduct of any diving operations,' he added.
Earlier, PAGASA raised Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 2 in over 10 areas in Luzon as Tropical Storm Crising slightly intensified approaching Cagayan and Babuyan Islands.
Crising is expected to make landfall over Cagayan or Babuyan Islands on Friday afternoon or evening.
Last week, authorities started searching Taal Lake for the remains of the missing sabungeros. This came after whistleblower Julie 'Dondon' Patidongan claimed that more than 100 sabungeros were abducted, killed, and then dumped at Taal Lake.
On Thursday, authorities recovered what appeared to be human ribs from the lake. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
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GMA Network
18-07-2025
- GMA Network
Taal Lake ops for missing sabungeros suspended due to bad weather
Search and retrieval operation for the missing sabungeros at Taal Lake was temporarily suspended on Friday due to inclement weather, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Justice spokesperson Atty. Mico Clavano said the operation was suspended at 9:29 a.m. 'Coast Guard Underwater Search Operations utilizing its Tech Divers and ROV was temporarily placed on standby due to continuous rainfall and surface runoff from the nearby river,' he said in a statement. 'Elevated turbidity levels significantly reduced underwater visibility, resulting in unfavorable condition for the conduct of any diving operations,' he added. Earlier, PAGASA raised Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 2 in over 10 areas in Luzon as Tropical Storm Crising slightly intensified approaching Cagayan and Babuyan Islands. Crising is expected to make landfall over Cagayan or Babuyan Islands on Friday afternoon or evening. Last week, authorities started searching Taal Lake for the remains of the missing sabungeros. This came after whistleblower Julie 'Dondon' Patidongan claimed that more than 100 sabungeros were abducted, killed, and then dumped at Taal Lake. On Thursday, authorities recovered what appeared to be human ribs from the lake. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
16-07-2025
- GMA Network
3 bodies exhumed in search of missing sabungeros —Remulla
Authorities are now digging up at least three bodies in Batangas who may be connected to e-sabong or the drug war amid the ongoing search for the missing sabungeros, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Wednesday. Remulla said authorities are looking into locations that may have been used not only for e-sabong but also the drug war. 'There were some victims found in 2020 that were just buried by the police because nobody claimed them in the punerarya (funeral parlor). We're exhuming them now as we speak because we have to find out who these people are,' he said in an ambush interview. 'We're setting up the DNA bank that we need to set up precisely because of those people who are missing. 'Yung mga disappearances ng mga tao dapat ma-solve 'yan,' he added. Meanwhile, Remulla said authorities are looking into locations that may have been used not only for e-sabong but also the drug war. Asked if this means authorities are now investigating drug war killings, Remulla said their focus remains on the missing sabungeros. However, he said that authorities have no choice but to include everything due to a supposed intersection in the two cases. Remulla previously said that some people who may be involved in drug war killings may also be involved in the deaths related to e-sabong. 'Yung ano eh, yung actors eh, yung mga taong involved sa what we call enforced disappearances. parang nagkaka— nagkatugma na isang grupo ginamit pareho. They were part of the drug war and they were part of the disposition dito sa e-sabong,' he said. (The thing is, the actors, the people involved in what we call enforced disappearances, it seems like— it matches that one group was used for both. They were part of the drug war and they were part of the disposition here in e-sabong.) However, Remulla declined to comment on Vice President Sara Duterte's statement that former President Rodrigo Duterte found the alleged link between the drug war and the missing sabungeros preposterous. 'I have no comment on that. I have no response to that,' he said. Last week, authorities started searching Taal Lake for the remains of the missing sabungeros. This came after whistleblower Julie 'Dondon' Patidongan claimed that more than 100 sabungeros were abducted, killed, and then dumped at Taal Lake. Earlier, members of the Japanese Embassy visited the Department of Justice. Remulla said they relayed the Philippine government's request for equipment and assistance with the DNA analysis. 'Although we have a very competent crime lab, a police crime lab, and an NBI crime lab capable of looking at DNA, we're looking at the best possible persons who can help us also. Kasi, this is not an easy task. We need all the help we can get,' he said. He said that the request is being processed. On Tuesday, the Philippine National Police said authorities recovered what may be a human hip bone with a length of eight inches among the more than 90 bone fragments retrieved. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
16-07-2025
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Imee seeks ban on transfer of Pinoys to foreign jurisdiction sans local warrant
Senator Imee Marcos has filed a measure seeking the prohibition of arresting or detaining any person in the Philippine territory and transferring them to an international court without a warrant of arrest issued by a local court. In the explanatory note of Senate Bill No. 557, also known as the President Rodrigo R. Duterte Act, Marcos called the arrest and turn over of the former president to the International Criminal Court 'abuses by the authorities' which may also happen to others. 'What took place on that fateful day was an extraordinary rendition—the transfer without due process of a detainee to the custody of a foreign jurisdiction,' Marcos said. 'Thus, it is necessary to make it exceedingly clear—if it is not yet clear already—that arresting an individual for the purpose of turning him or her over to a foreign jurisdiction without an order and a warrant of arrest issued by a Philippine court is against the Constitution and punishable under the law,' she added. The prohibited acts under the proposed bill include the transferring or causing the transfer of any person found within the territory of the Philippines to an international court, tribunal, organization, or State whose jurisdiction or authority to investigate, prosecute, detain, imprison, or execute such person is not expressly and unequivocally recognized by the Philippines through a treaty or international agreement from which the Philippines has not withdrawn at the time of such transfer; or without the written and voluntary consent of the person transferred or an order issued by a competent Philippine court allowing such transfer. The bill also seeks to ban the arresting or detaining or causing the arrest or detention of any person in the Philippines for the purpose of transferring him or her to any international court, tribunal, organization, or State without an arrest warrant issued by a competent Philippine court. Investigating, arresting, detaining, or prosecuting any local on behalf of, in favor of, or upon the orders of any international court or the like; or without a permit issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will also be prohibited. The proposed measure also provides that all transactions in all property and interests in property of any person who is formally charged in the proper Philippine court with any of the offenses penalized under the Act are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in, if such property and interests in property are in the country or are within the possession or control of a Filipino citizen or resident, unless the court determines specific circumstances. It will also allow any person to file an ex parte petition in the proper Philippine court to deny the issuance of or cancel any visa of an alien, if there is substantial evidence that such alien visited or will visit the country to conduct any investigation, inquiry, arrest, detention, or transfer persons on behalf of any foreign court or State whose jurisdiction is not recognized by the Philippines through a treaty. As a recourse, the bill will also grant all persons who have been subjected to extraordinary rendition, whether prior to or after the enactment of the Act, shall be entitled to the appropriate remedies in the Philippine court. 'The Department of Foreign Affairs shall exhaust every diplomatic channel to ensure that Filipino citizens who are victims of extraordinary rendition will be repatriated to the Philippines as soon as possible and that judgments of the Philippine court will be given effect,' the measure read. Duterte was arrested in the Philippines by local authorities on March 11, based on a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC. He is currently detained in the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during the drug war. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
