Duterte mulls conditional suspension of e-sabong (Sabong News)

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said he will not hesitate to order the suspension of online cockfighting operations, or e-sabong, if it becomes a "serious addiction" among Filipinos. It already is for at least one police officer assigned at the Police Regional Office (PRO)-4A (Calabarzon) who was charged with estafa and illegal gambling in late March 2022 for his alleged addiction to e-sabong. According to a report, administrative and criminal cases were slapped against Lt. John Kevin Menes, 24, assigned to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Drug Enforcement Group-Special Operations Unit (DEG-SOU)-PRO-4A. Calabarzon groups the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. The President said he has received reports of e-sabong aficionados pawning or selling their pieces of property to have money for online gambling. "I don't know if it's true and I don't know if it's really something which is, marami ng mga Pilipino ngayon iprenda 'yung bahay, mga estudyante nagsali na kasi. Pero kung totoo 'yan, before I go, parahin ko (many Filipinos pawn their houses, even students are involved. If that's true, before I go, I will halt it). It's getting to be a very serious problem for the Filipino)," the Chief Executive also said at the National Task Force and Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict meeting in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, on Thursday, March 31. The President is stepping down from Malacanang in June this year after serving as the country's leader for six years from 2016. "Sabi ko, pag-aralan muna natin then kung totoo 'yan, hintuin ko 'yan kung ang problema ibigay lang, ganoon-ganoon na. Pero kung sabihin mo kung wala lang, bakit ko hintuin 'yan (I said, let's study first then if it's true, I will stop it if it has really become a problem. But if you tell me that it's nothing, why would I stop it)?" he said. Duterte noted that the government earns at least P640 million in revenue per month from online cockfighting, money that augments various projects whose funding were depleted because of the pandemic. "Ang e-sabong is giving us P640 million a month. Saan tayo magkuha ng pera ngayon? Naubos man sa Covid lahat (Where will get the money now? It was all used up for our Covid-19 response). We are short of funds. Kaya sabi ko ipatuloy 'yang e-sabong (That's why I said let e-sabong continue)," he stated. The President then reminded the police to resolve the case of the missing e-sabong players (sabungero), while also reminding them of penalties if they are found guilty of engaging in online gambling themselves. The Palace, in response to a Senate resolution urging the suspension of e-sabong licenses because of the disappearance of online cockfighting aficionados, earlier issued a circular ruling that "the operations of e-sabong licensees shall remain unaffected, pending results of investigations" of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the PNP on the alleged abductions. The alleged e-sabong addict from the PRO-4A, a graduate of the PNP Academy, was first restricted at the regional police headquarters in Laguna over the disappearance of some P500,000 in cash allocated to the DEG in Calabarzon, which was being used as show money during buy-busts, as well as other expenses of local police anti-drug units. Menes, however, escaped on March 27 and left the camp using a car that he borrowed from his subordinate, Pat. Melvin Bojocan Barbo. He refused to return the car, thus resulting in a search and recovery operation. After two days, the DEG received a tip that Menes was spotted at an online betting station in Sta. Mesa, Manila. When police arrived, they were told that Menes was being held by employees of the facility for his unpaid debts amounting to P15,000. The vehicle, investigation showed, was found in Tondo, Manila. The police then proceeded to the area early Thursday and recovered the borrowed car. It was learned that the suspect pawned the vehicle to a certain Angel Robert Maximo for P170,000 with an interest of 1 percent per day. "Knowing fully that the vehicle is owned by a commissioned officer and gaining his trust and confidence, he (Maximo) accepted the offer and paid Lt. Menes the said amount, and in turn, he delivered the mortgaged vehicle to him," the report said. Menes was then arrested and brought back to the police headquarters while the car was recovered and returned to the rookie policeman. Last month, PNP chief Gen. Dionardo Bernardo Carlos, urged all unit commanders to inspect gadgets of their subordinates to determine those who are hooked on e-sabong.