MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said there may be a connection between perpetrators of the drug war and e-sabong killings.

“There was an intersection of these cases — in an arrest made in Meycauayan, where drug suspects who were arrested were also intertwined with the e-sabong,” he said.

“There was one incident where we were able to connect the cases.”  he added.

Remulla cited the case where the partner of an e-sabong agent was abducted by purportedly police officers who were in cahoots with siblings who were involved in illegal drugs.

Remulla, however, said there were challenges in handling the case, as some personalities tried to influence how the suspects should be treated.

Remulla said some of the individuals they interrogated recanted their testimonies, the same people who appeared before a Senate hearing on e-sabong.

It was not clear, however, if the DOJ chief was referring to a witness or a police officer.

The DOJ chief also mentioned the possibility of death squads in the war on drugs also involved in the “missing sabungeros” case.

“I think that the death squads might intersect, more on the death squads the people who undertake the contractual killings may intersect somehow with the drug war and the e-sabong,” Remulla said.

“There are people involved in the killings in both the drug war and e-sabong,” he added.

However, Remulla admitted they are still far from establishing links between the war on drugs and e-sabong.

For now, he said, what is important is that the government is making progress.

“That’s [as] far as we can trace right now, but we will have [to] establish clearer links to each other,” he said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Monday that initial findings of the forensic group examining the recovered sacks from Taal Lake were a mix of human and animal remains.

Remulla said he believes there’s more to the disappearance of the 34 cockfighting enthusiasts who went missing three years ago.

“I believe there’s more to this than meets the eye,” he said.

He stressed it’s about time the “demons” behind the case are brought to justice, especially with new findings finally coming to light.

The PCG has been on top of the search operations under the DOJ’s leadership, deploying several teams of nearly 50 divers to search the murky waters of Taal Lake. /gsg