Senate to probe continued e-sabong operations

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate games and amusements committee will include online cockfighting or e-sabong in its next hearing, following its continued operations in areas such as Batangas and Central Luzon despite a nationwide ban.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo, chair of the committee, told radio dwIZ yesterday that police officials – from regional director, provincial commander and chief of police – turn a blind eye to the conduct of e-sabong in their areas.

He said it is impossible for police officers to be unaware of illegal cockfighting, where games can reach up to 200 to 300 fights per day involving up to 600 fighting cocks.

Tulfo said he will invite Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials when the investigation resumes next month.

“I know that illegal sabong operators earn up to P300 million to P600 million per month, and their take home is P400 million, minus the grease money given to police and NBI,” Tulfo said in Filipino.

“I will invite them to the next hearing and give them tips about illegal sabong, unless they still want to turn a blind eye to this,” he added.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte banned online sabong amid reports of enforced disappearances of cockfighting enthusiasts, whose bodies were allegedly dumped in Taal Lake.

During the Aug. 14 online gaming probe, Tulfo said from September 2022 to August this year, 11,985 illegal online gambling sites were identified, of which 6,363 are online casino games, 236 are offshore sites and 4,813 are links to online e-sabong.

He slammed the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s failure to shut down these sites, and criticized the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. for continuing to rake in income from legal online gaming.