Atong Ang raps against whistleblowers dismissed

The Mandaluyong City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed criminal complaints filed by businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang against his former employee Julie Patidongan and an associate identified as Alan Bantiles.

In a 19-page resolution dated 30 September 2025, prosecutors dismissed the complaints, which included charges of Attempted Robbery with Intimidation, Grave Threats, Grave Coercion, Slander and Incriminating an Innocent Person, all in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

The cases were dismissed for “want of prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction.”

The complaints stemmed from Ang’s allegations that Patidongan and Bantiles conspired to extort P300 million from him.

Ang claimed the demand was made in exchange for Patidongan’s silence and to prevent him from being implicated in the high-profile case of the missing sabungeros.

Patidongan is a respondent in a separate kidnapping case related to the disappearance of the sabungeros.

However, the Prosecutor’s Office found Ang’s narrative and evidence to be inconsistent and insufficient. Crucial to the dismissal were call logs submitted as evidence, which showed that all communications between 8 February and 19 February 2025, were outgoing calls initiated by Ang himself, not the respondents.

“This fact substantially undermines the claim that the latter was under persistent threats and extortion during this period,” the resolution stated, finding the pattern of contact inconsistent with a victim of coercion.

Prosecutors also questioned Ang’s decision to contribute P12 million to Patidongan’s mayoral campaign in Surigao del Sur between February and April 2025.

This conduct, the resolution cited, was “not only counterintuitive, it also strains credulity” if Ang truly believed Patidongan had plotted to kidnap and kill him as early as September 2023, as alleged by his witnesses.

The credibility of Ang’s witnesses was also called into question, with the prosecution noting their accounts appeared “belated, fabricated, and inherently unreliable.”

No criminal information will be filed against Patidongan and Bantiles in court for these specific charges.

However, Patidongan remains a respondent in the separate kidnapping case concerning the missing sabungeros, which is pending before the Regional Trial Court of Manila.