‘Against our values’: Duterte ends e-sabong

CEBU, Philippines —  After defending e-sabong as an activity which generates millions of revenues for the government every month, President Rodrigo Duterte said that he is putting an end to it, citing its social impact on Filipinos.

In his recorded "Talk to the People" aired Tuesday, Duterte said he is following the recommendation of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) chief Eduardo Año.

“The recommendation of Sec. Año is to do away with e-sabong and he cited the validation report coming from all sources, so it's his recommendation and I agree with it, and it is good. So e-sabong will end by tonight o bukas (or tomorrow). Lalabas ito bukas (This will come out tomorrow),” Duterte said.

He explained that he earlier ordered Año to conduct a survey on the social impact of e-sabong on Filipinos. Duterte said Año's findings confirmed what he has been hearing.

“May naririnig na ako, loud and very clear to me, that it was working against...our values and 'yung impact sa pamilya pati sa tao, e ang labas, hindi na natutulog 'yung mga sabungero [for] 24 hours, that was the first objection that I've heard from somebody, I think it was coming from a congressman na sobra ito,” Duterte said.

E-sabong or the placing of online bets during live cockfighting games is being regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

The e-sabong industry generates P640 million a month in revenues for the government, Duterte has said.

Moratorium

In Cebu City, the City Council has requested the e-sabong licensing office to have a moratorium on the issuance of new licenses for e-sabong betting centers in the city.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia moved for the request during the council’s regular session last Wednesday, April 27, 2022, which was approved by the council.

Garcia is the chairman of the Cebu City Gamefowl Commission.

The council’s move came after a certain Edmund Estabello, a resident of Barangay Duljo-Fatima, sent Garcia a letter asking him to stop the issuance of business and other pertinent permits for opening more e-sabong betting centers as it is “detrimental to the financial standing of many poor Cebuanos and it is also disturbing the moral fibers of the community.”

“Online sabong is already wrecking families, incite crimes, and corrupt the society as young people are drawn to the evils of gambling. We already have several overseas professional who failed to fulfill their financial obligations to their families after losing their money on e-sabong,” read Estabello’s letter dated April 5, 2022.

“E-sabong is worse than the traditional weekend cockfighting because this is done several times a day and open to anyone regardless of age,” it further read.

Estabello said that even before Typhoon Odette and while the entire city was still under Alert Level 2 of the pandemic safety protocol, online sabong “talpakan” or betting centers have already been mushrooming in many areas in the city.

These betting centers, he added, offer gambling into the doorsteps of every “gullible individual” who is desperate enough to win and place as bet even the last peso supposed to be intended for food and other basic needs of their families.

“It may be true that the government earned the much-needed revenue from its operation. Still, the social cost of online cockfighting dwarfs its gains. We have already read over the social media various testimonies that the proliferation of e-sabong is destroying families apart and deteriorating social evils in Cebu City and the entire country,” said Estabello.

Ready to enforce

For its part, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is now waiting for the formal memorandum stopping the operation of e-sabong in line with President Duterte’s pronouncement.

“As a matter of protocol we have to await the directives coming from the headquarters because we have to have a document that indeed kining mga franchise aning entities aning mga e-sabong were already cancelled,” said Lt. Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, information officer of CCPO.

Macatangay said they are ready to enforce arrest warrants against e-sabong operators who will not heed the order.

She said they welcome the president's pronouncement since they heard that crimes related to e-sabong have occurred in other areas.

“We heard a lot crimes right now were due to the kaning pagka-addict aning e-sabong and we are happy, as law enforcers, more specifically ngari sa Cebu City nalipay mi nga mao ni ang pronouncement sa atong presidente,” she said.

At least in Cebu City, though, Macatangay said that no crime related to e-sabong has been reported.

Once e-sabong is formally stopped, the police are not discounting the possibility that illegal cockfighting or tigbakay will be back in operation.

“Kung moduwa ra sila ana, way problema but once naa na gani kwarta, mo-involve na, magpustaanay na sila, that makes that particular activity illegal and that's where the police come in,” said Macatangay.

Macatangay thus appealed to the public to “understand” the police who are implementing the law, especially during raids of illegal cockfighting. – Iris Hazel M. Mascardo, JMD (FREEMAN) Philstar.com