Breeders want e-sabong guidelines reviewed (Sabong News)
Author
Eugene Y. Adiong
Date
MARCH 09 2022
A group of breeders based in Negros Occidental wants the government to review the guidelines on e-sabong or cockfighting matches streamed online.Ako Breeder party-list first nominee Jaime Mariquit on Saturday said his group is not against e-sabong because many families earn their livelihood from the industry.
"However, I believe that it should be regulated by the government," said Mariquit, who is from Escalante City.
Mariquit said there is a need to review the implementing rules and regulations for online cockfighting.
E-sabong proliferated during the height of Covid-19 pandemic last year. It was allowed to operate by the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) even without any public hearing and consultation, he pointed out.
Pagcor defines e-sabong as an online, remote or off-site wagering/betting on live cockfighting matches, events and activities streamed or broadcast live from cockpit arenas licensed or authorized by local government units.
Mariquit said that the operation of e-sabong is also a threat to traditional cockfighting, which, he said, is the second biggest industry of Negros Occidental.
Mariquit said the advocacy of their group is to support the workers and the families whose livelihood depends on traditional cockfighting.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said that local game fowl breeders suffered losses in two years due to the non-operation of cockpits and the ban on traditional cockfighting, even at the village level.
Mariquit said more than a million individuals in the gamefowl industry were directly and indirectly affected by the Covid-19 restrictions imposed on the traditional cockfighting.
Mariquit also said that he also wants a repeal of Presidential Decree 449 or the "Philippine Cockfighting Law of 1974," as he wants it to become a Republic Act. He is also pushing for the legalization of traditional cockfighting in the villages.
He also noted that the pandemic also prevented big time derbies and cockfighting tournaments from taking place.
"The traditional cockfighting is already a culture of the people in the countryside to participate and watch sabong during fiestas," he said.
By allowing traditional cockfighting in villages during festivities, which is being held only once a year, Mariquit said it will also raise taxes for villages and provide additional income for its residents.
Negros Occidental is known as the cockfighting capital of the country.
