Atong Ang Left the Philippines by the 'Backdoor,' and the Government Will Not Say How

The man wanted over the disappearance of cockfighting enthusiasts is no longer in the country, and the official who confirmed it offered one word for how he got out. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Charlie "Atong" Ang left through a "backdoor" - and then declined to say when, how, or where from.

Atong Ang Left the Philippines by the 'Backdoor,' and the Government Will Not Say How

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirmed on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, that Charlie "Atong" Ang has left the Philippines through a "backdoor" route, speaking at a chance interview in Makati City on the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime. Philstar reported that Remulla's remark that he is confident Ang is in Cambodia was made on ANC on Monday, 19 October.

The Answer Was One Word

Remulla gave the confirmation in three words of Filipino, repeated across two interviews and carried by every major outlet in the country. "Backdoor siya dumaan," he told GMA News. To Cebu Daily News and the Philippine Daily Inquirer he put it slightly differently: "Backdoor siya (nakabas)." ABS-CBN News recorded a third version, framed by the caveat that the matter remains under investigation: "It's an ongoing investigation. Backdoor siya."

The setting was not a scheduled press conference on the Ang case. Remulla was in Makati for the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime, and the question came at the edge of that programme. GMA News described the occasion as a press briefing; the Inquirer placed it at a chance interview on the sidelines of the meeting. Until Tuesday, Remulla had said authorities believed Ang remained in the country.

What the sentence did not carry was any detail. There was no date of departure, no border point, no means of travel, no account of who might have moved him. The confirmation closed a question that had run since January and opened a larger one in its place.

What Remulla Would Not Say

The Inquirer reported that Remulla did not disclose Ang's last known location, saying the investigation was ongoing. He did not say when Ang left, how he left, by which route, through which port, or with what assistance.

The Manila Times put the gap plainly, writing that Remulla did not explain how Ang allegedly managed to leave the country despite the efforts of the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies to arrest him. The same report noted that the confirmation renews questions about how the businessman evaded a manhunt despite outstanding arrest warrants.

Those questions are not rhetorical. The Bureau of Immigration has said it has no record of Ang's recent departure, a position carried by ABS-CBN News and the Inquirer. If the immigration service has no record, then the exit Remulla described did not pass through a documented channel, and the government has not described what channel it did pass through. No official has named a route, a vessel, an aircraft, a border crossing, or a single person who may have helped him.

The Charge Sheet Left Behind

The warrants Ang left behind were issued in January 2026 by courts in Sta. Cruz, Laguna; Lipa City, Batangas; and San Pablo, Laguna, according to GMA News. They cover multiple counts of kidnapping with homicide and of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

GMA News reported that Ang has not been seen since January 2026. The Department of Justice indicted him and at least 21 others, including 15 police officers, on 9 December for their alleged involvement in the disappearance of the sabungeros, the Inquirer reported.

Ang has denied the allegations. He has also alleged that whistleblower Julie Patidongan and a certain Alan "Brown" Bantiles tried to extort P300 million from him or they would implicate him, the Inquirer reported in July 2025. His camp challenged the arrest order as premature, the Inquirer reported.

The Whistleblower and the Lake

The case rests in large part on Patidongan, a former farm manager and security aide to Ang. He alleged that the victims were abducted and strangled by a group of policemen and their bodies dumped in Taal Lake in Batangas, on Ang's orders. He has also alleged that more than 100 sabungeros disappeared, the Inquirer reported in July 2025.

The physical search of the lake has run since July 2025. Police Colonel Pierre Paul Carpio, director of the PNP Forensic Group, said 1,400 human bone fragments have been recovered, alongside around 2,000 pieces of evidence including bones of human and animal origin, artifacts and personal effects. GMA News reported that 134 disaster victim identification operations have been carried out.

Carpio described the conditions working against identification. Taal Lake water is acidic and contains magnesium, aluminium and sodium, which break down bone, and water temperatures of 29 to 35 degrees Celsius speed microbial activity and degrade DNA. Around 33 family reference samples have been collected for cross-matching. Carpio said the PNP may seek help from laboratories in Japan and from the University of the Philippines. No positive identification had been announced.

The Others Already in Custody

All of Ang's 21 co-accused are already under government custody, the Inquirer reported. That includes the 15 police officers named in the DOJ indictment. Earlier reporting recorded that 17 individuals, among them 10 police officers, were arrested in the manhunt that followed the January warrants; the government has not reconciled the two figures.

The practical result is a prosecution with 21 defendants in hand and one absent. Every hearing that requires the principal accused will proceed without him, and every argument his lawyers make about the sufficiency of the evidence will be made in his absence. The government has not said whether it will seek to try him in absentia.

The Money Nobody Has Counted

Remulla offered a figure for Ang's resources and a theory for how they were used. He said Ang has $3 billion that he may have converted into cryptocurrency. "With that kind of money, you can pay people," he said, as carried by Philstar and the Manila Times.

The Manila Times stated explicitly that the amount and the alleged conversion have not been independently verified. No audit, no bank record, no exchange filing and no court document has been produced to support either the total or the conversion. The figure stands as Remulla's claim and nothing more.

It is also not the only figure he has given. In a separate interview, the Inquirer reported, Remulla said: "I believe that Atong at least has P10 billion in cash... if you had P10 billion cash, you can buy off so many people to get in and out of any location." That number is likewise unverified. In Senate testimony years ago, Ang himself put the gross income of Lucky 8 Star Quest at P3 billion per month - his claim, never an audited figure.

A Red Notice and a Bounty That Did Not Work

On 16 April 2026, Remulla said an Interpol red notice had been issued against Ang. "He was spotted in Region 4-A two weeks ago. Nakita siya," he said, according to Philstar. "Apparently, he travels in a small group. Parang tatlo lang sila. Palipat-lipat siya ng bahay every three days, four days, five days." Philstar sought comment from Ang's lawyer, Gabriel Villareal, who had not replied.

On 12 May 2026, PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Randulf Tuaño said regional manhunt teams nationwide had been activated against Ang, former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag and former police officer Rafael Dumlao III after red notices were issued, GMA News reported.

The bounty did not produce him either. The DILG offered P10 million in January 2026 and subsequently raised it to P20 million; GMA News in May and the Manila Times on 20 October both state the reward stands at P20 million. The DILG moved to cancel Ang's passport and sought the red notice, Sunstar reported. Police raided at least 18 locations in a two-week span without result, Remulla said in January, and 40 tips to the CIDG hotline pointed mostly to Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Bicol without producing an arrest.

Cambodia's Own Records

Remulla's confidence about Cambodia is his alone. "We are confident that he is in that area," he said on ANC, according to Philstar and the Manila Times. The Manila Times carried the statement under the headline "Remulla: Atong Ang has fled to Cambodia."

Cambodia has not confirmed that Ang is on its territory. In February 2026, Cambodian authorities said their immigration records showed no record of Ang entering or leaving the country, the Manila Times reported. That position has not been publicly revised.

The gap between the two statements has not been explained. A backdoor exit from the Philippines does not by itself establish a backdoor entry into Cambodia, and no official has described how Ang would have crossed a border without appearing in one set of records or the other. Remulla's claim is that Ang is in the area. The only immigration record on the public file says otherwise.

The Treaty, the Chairmanship and the Teves Precedent

In January 2026, Remulla set out the legal machinery he believed would bring Ang home. "Kung nasa Cambodia yan, may extradition tayo, makukuha natin siya," he said, according to the Daily Tribune. He went on: "Si Teves, maraming salapi, pero nakuha pa rin natin sa Timor Leste. So, ngayon na pangulo ng Asean ang ating presidente, baka sakali ang coordination meeting niya mas maganda."

The precedent he cited was Arnolfo Teves Jr., the former Negros Oriental representative returned to the Philippines from Timor-Leste. Remulla also said in January that repatriation might most effectively be handled by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. raising it directly with his Cambodian counterpart, and that Ang reportedly set up an online sabong operation in Cambodia, Sunstar and GMA News reported. The Philippines holds the ASEAN chairmanship in 2026.

Remulla has not said whether a formal extradition request has been sent to Cambodia, and Cambodian authorities have given no indication they have received one.

What the Families Are Still Waiting For

The families of the missing sabungeros are waiting on two things, and the confirmation in Makati addressed neither. The first is identification. Around 33 family reference samples have been collected, 1,400 bone fragments have been recovered from Taal Lake, and no positive identification had been announced.

The second is a defendant. The 21 co-accused are in custody. The man the government says masterminded the abductions is not, and the government will not say when he left, how he left, or who moved him across a border that left no immigration record.

The lake work continues either way. The search that began in July 2025 has produced 1,400 human bone fragments and no published identification, the DNA cross-matching has no announced result, and the courts in Laguna and Batangas hold warrants for a man who is now described as being somewhere in Southeast Asia.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Philstar, The Manila Times, GMA News Online, Philippine Daily Inquirer, ABS-CBN News, Daily Tribune. Photographs: Sunstar, GMA News, and patrickroque01 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).