Church group against e-sabong bill (Sabong News)
Author
Analou de Vera
Date
NOVEMBER 19 2021
The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) expressed its opposition to the electronic sabong (cockfighting) bill, saying that the approval of such measure will “cause serious problems” to the public.
The PCEC said that it is against House Bill No. 10199 or the proposed Act “granting Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc. a franchise to operate offsite betting activities on duly-licensed cockfighting, derbies, and other similar activities through online or other modern means, anywhere in the Philippines.”
“PCEC firmly rejects the passing of this bill. We express our utter disillusionment with the decision of the House of Representatives that haphazardly passed the bill last September 20, 2021, without clearly realizing the disastrous consequences online betting (or) ‘e-sabong’ will bring to the Filipino people, including children and minors,” it said.
This measure is currently being discussed at the Senate Committee on Public Services.
“PCEC therefore appeals to each member of the Committee to reject this bill. We pray that you will see through all the deceptive financial promises of this bill, which only leads to the destruction of our nation’s values and moral rectitude. May your decision genuinely reflect what is good for our beloved nation,” the church group said.
The PCEC said such activity will cause adverse effects to the public.
“As the current situation stands now, gambling has already been causing serious problems to many Filipinos, such as gambling addiction, susceptibility to criminal activities, bankruptcy, broken families, suicide, among others,” the PCEC said.
“Approving the bill and making ‘e-sabong’ even more widespread will not bring answers to any of these problems, it will only add to them and make the existing ones even worse,” it added.
