Atong sues accuser: We are not criminals

Businessman claims P300-M extortion try by ex-staff

- By ALEXIS ROMERO

Stressing he has nothing to do with the disappearance and murder of over 100 cockfight enthusiasts, gaming tycoon Charlie "Atong" Ang went on the offensive and filed criminal complaints against his accuser, whistle-blower Julie Patidongan, alias Totoy.

Accompanied by a battery of lawyers led by Lorna Kapunan, Ang went to the Mandaluyong City prosecutor's office yesterday morning and filed cases of attempted robbery with intimidation of persons, grave threats, grave coercion, slander and incriminating against innocent persons against Patidongan and another former employee, Alan Bantiles, alias Brown.

Ang said Patidongan was his farm manager for the Pitmasters Group involved in online cockfight or e-sabong. Ang said he even provided legal assistance to Patidongan after he and five security guards of the Manila Arena were implicated in the disappearance of 10 sabungeros.

However, Ang said they had a falling out in 2023 after he learned that Patidongan plotted to have him kidnapped, held for ransom and eventually killed.

After filing his complaint, Ang held a press briefing wherein he accused Patidongan and Bantiles of demanding P300 million in exchange for not implicating him in the murder of the sabungeros.

In the eyes of the public, Patidongan is Totoy, who gave a series of interviews on the fate of the cockfight players aired over GMA News' 24 Oras. For Ang, he is Dondon, a former associate who worked for him for about 15 years.

"Think it over Don, don't lie anymore. I treated you like my own son, I did not know you were this bad," Ang said in Filipino.

Ang said he decided to come out in the open to defend himself and members of his group in the sabong industry whom Patidongan implicated in the killing of the sabungeros.

He said the people identified as suspects by Patidongan - including actress Gretchen Barretto, Eric dela Rosa and Celso Salazar - were upright people and not criminals.