Senate probe on abductions goes on amid e-sabong halt (Sabong News)
Author
Butch Fernandez
Date
MARCH 01 2022
SENATORS conducting a separate inquiry into the case of the 31 missing E-sabong (online cockfight) aficionados and workers will pursue their ongoing probe even as President Duterte has green-lighted the suspension of operations of seven companies licensed by the state gaming agency.
The Senate leader disclosed their options in dealing with the controversy in a public forum early this week in the presence of local officials of Quezon province, who echoed concerns on the social and economic toll of s-sabong on the people.
The Senate on Monday formally filed a resolution urging the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to suspend the operation of the popular “E-sabong” or online cockfight until the cases of 31 missing cockfight aficionados are resolved.
Proposed Resolution No. 996, which expresses the sense of the Senate to strongly urge Pagcor to suspend the license to operate of “E-sabong” operators and to immediately stop all activities related to “E-sabong” until the cases of the missing sabungeros are resolved, was introduced by Ronald Dela Rosa and signed by 22 other senators.
The current holders of Pagcor license to operate “E-sabong” are Belvedere Vista Corporation, Lucky 8 Star Quest, Inc., Visayas Cockers Club, Inc., Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies, Inc., Newin Cockers Alliance Gaming Corporation, Philippine Cockfighting International Inc., and Golden Buzzer, Inc.
Dela Rosa said that President Duterte gave the impression that he supports the resolution.
“Per my short conversation with the President at the wedding of his grandson in Davao City yesterday, I got the impression that he supports the Senate resolution urging Pagcor to suspend the license to operate of “E-Sabong operators,” Dela Rosa said.
The issuance of the resolution was initially approved last February 24 by the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs headed by Dela Rosa during the first public hearing conducted by his panel on the abductions.
During the hearing, members of the committee arrived at a consensus “that the operation of ‘e-sabong’ should be momentarily halted pending investigation.”
It was Senate President Vicente Sotto III who proposed that a Senate resolution be issued to urge Pagcor to suspend the licenses issued to the seven “e-sabong” operators “until there is an acceptable conclusion to what happened to the missing personalities involved in the online cockfighting.”
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