MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has defended anew e-sabong operations on Thursday, explaining that the government needs the revenues from the online cockfighting games as other funds were depleted by COVID-19.
Senators earlier signed a resolution calling for the suspension of seven e-sabong firms as they investigate the disappearances of over 30 missing people allegedly linked to the games. The Palace, however, allowed the games to go on, but ordered the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation to look into the issue.
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"I need the money [from e-sabong] for those expenses that are not in the budget, which you can't get in the budget so you need money from the outside," Duterte said in Filipino during the inauguration of the OFW Center at Daang Hari, Las Piñas City on Thursday.
"At the end of the year, if I have the billions at P640 million a month, then I can use it to help [because the] pandemic has depleted my contingency plan and the intelligence fund which I gave to the police and military,' he added.
He explained that he has heard reports of people who pawn everything to place bets in the games.
"If it is true, then I will stop it...but I have to sacrifice, [as] I said, the billions that we would have earned if it was there," he said, referring to e-sabong.
Duterte added that he allowed e-sabong operations to continue, but clarified that "he does not know anyone there."
E-sabong is regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), which the Palace has earlier ordered to check if operators are complying security requirements and other commitments in their license agreements.
The Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, chaired by Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, has held three hearings so far on the disappearances of individuals purportedly linked to e-sabong and sabong operations.
Duterte earlier appealed to Congress to "not meddle" in e-sabong operations since it is generating revenues for the State.
If e-sabong operations continue until end-2022, Pagcor will be able to collect around P7.2 billion to P8 billion, according to the agency's chair and chief executive officer Andrea Domingo. — Angelica Y. Yang