Latest news with #Batangas
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
The Philippine murder mystery spoiling Taal Lake's catch
The volcanic mist that hung over Taal Lake last week seemed to thicken with every rumour. Where fishermen once cast their nets, search teams trawled the depths for sacks of secrets. Since July 10, up to 40 technical divers from the Philippines ' coastguard, aided by a remotely operated submersible, have recovered five sacks containing 'suspicious objects' from the lake's dark depths. The search, triggered by the bombshell revelations of whistle-blower Julie 'Dondon' Patidongan, has left the local community in Batangas province, some 63km (40 miles) south of Manila, reeling while sending shock waves across the nation. Patidongan's macabre account is harrowing. He claims at least 35 missing sabungeros (cockfighting enthusiasts) were kidnapped and slowly strangled with wire before their bodies were stuffed into weighted sacks and dumped in the lake near the municipality of Laurel. He has implicated police officers allegedly corrupted by his former employer, gambling tycoon Charlie 'Atong' Ang, and warned that up to 100 murdered men could have been dumped in the murky waters.
The Standard
5 days ago
- The Standard
Volcanic eruption ends day's search for bodies of Filipino cockfighters
Philippine coast guard personnel prepare to depart to the site where the bodies of cockfighters were allegedly dumped, in Lake Taal off Talisay town, Batangas province, South of Manila on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
South China Morning Post
12-07-2025
- South China Morning Post
Philippine cock fighters' deaths: Duterte drug war, sack of bones mark mounting mystery
Three sacks weighted with sandbags recovered from the depths of a Philippine volcanic crater lake have added a dramatic new twist to the chilling case of at least 34 missing cock fighters, bolstering claims by a whistle-blower that the killings were orchestrated by a gambling tycoon with powerful political and police connections. The first sack, pulled from the murky waters of Taal Lake on Thursday, contained charred bones, according to the Department of Justice. Forensic tests have yet to determine if the remains are human. Two more sacks were retrieved the following day, though authorities have not yet opened them. Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, commander of the Coast Guard Southern Tagalog District, told reporters the two sacks contained 'suspicious objects'. They did not open them because these looked very fragile, having been soaked in water for a long time. 'As long as weather is permitting, our guys won't stop looking,' he said, adding that diving for these objects was a very risky operation. 'Every time they do the dive, our divers are putting themselves in grave danger.' The discoveries were made near Balakilong village in Laurel, Batangas – about 83km (51.5 miles) south of Manila – by a Philippine Coast Guard dive team comprising 36 technical wreck divers. The search zone lies about 16 metres to 22 metres (52 feet to 72 feet) from the shoreline, with divers reaching depths of up to 21.8 metres. The Taal volcano crater with fish cages (bottom), seen along Taal Lake off Laurel town, Batangas province, south of Manila, on Thursday. Taal is a popular tourist spot in the Philippines. Photo: AFP The coastguard said it also planned to deploy an underwater drone to assist the probe. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, however, has expressed concern about rising pressure inside Taal Volcano, noting persistent volcanic tremors since July 6.
Forbes
27-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Philippine Billionaire Andrew Tan's Megaworld Deepens Tourism Bet With $113 Million Project
Megaworld's latest resort project is located in the coastal town of Nasugbu in Batangas, south of ... More Manila. Megaworld—the property arm of billionaire Andrew Tan's Alliance Global—is doubling down on its tourism bet by developing a leisure complex in Batangas province, south of Manila. Dubbed Nascala Coast, Megaworld said it will invest 5 billion pesos ($113 million) over the next five years to transform the 116-hectare beachfront property into an integrated residential, leisure, tourism and commercial township. Nestled in the coastal town of Nasugbu, which is famous for its scenic beaches and mountains, is a popular tourism and leisure destination for those seeking outdoor adventures given its proximity to Manila, about 88 kilometers away. 'More than just a destination, Nascala Coast is envisioned as a thriving coastal address where tourists can enjoy the best of nature and generations of families can flourish,' Monica T. Salomon, president of Global Estate Resorts Inc, a unit of Megaworld, said in a statement. Nascala Coast will be Megaworld's 36th township and its fourth in Batangas. Among its leisure estates in the province are the 1,200-hectare Twin Lakes Vineyard township that overlooks the Taal Lake and Volcano, the 25-hectare San Benito Private Estate, a $208 million luxury wellness and spa themed themed township it's building with Nepalese billionaire Binod Chaudhary in Lipa City, and the Lialto Beach and Golf Estates, a 150-hectare beachside and highland property in the town of Lian. Two-thirds of Megaworld's 36 townships are located in areas outside of Metro Manila that are tourist attractions such as Bacolod, Boracay, Cebu and Ilocos. Out of its 59 billion peso investment budget this year, Alliance Global will use 55 billion pesos for projects that include hotels, townships, offices, malls, convention centers and residential towers. To bolster its position as one of the country's biggest hospitality groups, Megaworld earlier this week partnered with French hotel chain Accor to rebrand its Belmont Hotel Mactan in central Philippines into Mercure Mactan Cebu. Megaworld has seven home-grown hotel brands with 13 properties and 7,000 rooms. It plans to open seven more hotels in three years and bring its hotel room portfolio to 9,000. Apart from Megaworld, Tan's interests include distiller Emperador, the world's biggest brandy maker; the Philippine franchisee of McDonald's and a casino resort. Tan has a net worth of about $2.4 billion, the fourth-richest Philippine tycoon, according to Forbes' real-time data.
Al Arabiya
20-06-2025
- Al Arabiya
Philippine navy seizes $175 million worth of meth at sea
The Philippine Navy seized an illegal drug shipment worth 10 billion pesos ($175 million) on Friday in one of the country's biggest narcotics hauls on record, officials said. A pair of naval gunboats intercepted a fishing vessel carrying 1.5 tons of methamphetamine hydrochloride off the coast of main island Luzon just before dawn, Commodore Edward de Sagon told a press conference. Four people, including one foreigner, were arrested in the joint operation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, according to de Sagon. 'We still don't have the details of where (the drugs originated),' he said, saying they believed the haul had been transferred from a larger vessel to the fishing ship. 'That was when it was intercepted. There was information and (maneuvers) that made us suspicious,' de Sagon said. Meth, known locally as shabu, is the most prevalent illegal drug in the Philippines. 'This is one of the largest illegal drug apprehensions in the history of the Philippine Navy,' navy spokesman John Percie Alcos said in a statement. Earlier this month, a large volume of drugs was found adrift just north of the area where Wednesday's arrests were made. The Philippines' biggest-ever drug seizure came in April last year when more than two tons of meth was seized at a police checkpoint on a road in Batangas province south of the capital, according to the presidential palace.
