A lawyer for one of the police officers implicated in the sabungero case said Wednesday that the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the National Police Commission (Napolcom) are “pre-judging” the accused officers.

Atty. Bernard Vitriolo, who represents Police Master Sgt. Joey Encarnacion, told reporters that the DoJ and Napolcom should not have tagged the policemen as an “organized criminal syndicate” before a case has even been filed.

Vitriolo claimed that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) has withheld affidavits from other witnesses that would point to key witness Julie Patidongan as the one who orchestrated the disappearance and killing of the missing cockfighting enthusiasts.

“These are former personnel of Patidongan who executed their affidavits with the CIDG,” Vitriolo said.

Vitriolo said he wrote to the CIDG on 3 August requesting copies of the affidavits from several witnesses, which he believes would provide a different perspective on the case. He added that Patidongan’s affidavit is “fabricated” and speculative.

According to Vitriolo, Patidongan’s affidavit claims that the victims were disposed of in a fishpond, but he has certificates from local and provincial governments showing that his client, Encarnacion, does not own any fish pens in Taal Lake.

Vitriolo also said that the dates mentioned in Patidongan’s affidavit are false, stating that Encarnacion was attending a schooling at Camp Vicente Lim from May to November and could not have been involved in the alleged incidents.

“Encarnacion has no connection with the missing sabungero,” Vitriolo said. “He does not know Atong Ang, my client has no personal engagement with him.”

Vitriolo said that once the affidavits of the other witnesses are made available, the truth will come out.

“Once the affidavits are complete, it will be determined who will really be charged,” he said. “The basis for charging the other accused is lacking, or there will be no one to charge, or a case build-up will be done again.”