Dela Rosa has 'no hard feelings' toward Duterte over 'e-sabong' issue (Sabong News)

Senator Ronald ‘’Bato’’ dela Rosa has no hard feelings toward President Duterte for refusing to heed a Senate resolution signed by him and 23 other senators asking the suspension of the multi-billion-peso “e-sabong” (online cockfighting) operations. During a DWIZ radio interview, Dela Rosa, chairman of the Senate Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee, said the President has his own reasons for opting not to suspend e-sabong. ‘’Hindi masama ang loob ko (I have no hard feelings),” he said, adding, “But we can’t do anything except to plead for the temporary suspension of the e-sabong operations.” The temporary suspension was to take in effect once the committee has completed its probe on the missing 34 sabungeros (cockfighting aficionados) who were abducted after attending cockfights in Manila, Laguna, and Batangas, Dela Rosa said this was a rare occasion where senators from the majority and minority blocs joined in requesting the President to order at the suspension of e-sabong operations. The political ally of Duterte said he understands the position of the President which is for government to have revenues from the earnings of e-sabong licensees to finance programs hit by the current Covid-19 pandemic and high prices of oil products triggered by the ongoing Russian-Ukraine conflict. ‘’[Pero] may masamang loob ko sa pangyayari (But I am hurt by the events) caused by the highly addictive e-sabong form of gambling that led to the abduction of the 34 ‘sabungeros,” Dela Rosa said. ‘’We stand by our resolution,’’ he added. Dela Rosa supported the suggestion of presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson that the 24/7 operation of e-sabong should be limited to just 12 hours a day. ‘’If it can’t be stopped, the frequency should be minimized to avoid addiction (of gamblers),’’ he said. The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief was referring to a mother selling her child to pay off her gambling debt, suicides by players hocked in debt and policemen committing crimes. The Dela Rosa committee resumes its hearing on Monday morning with a possible face-off between Charlie ‘’Atong’’ Ang, with other ‘e-sabong’ licensees after the former claimed there is a conspiracy among his rivals to bring him down. Ang had admitted that his firm, Lucky 8, grosses P1 billion to P2 billion a day and that he nets about P3 billion a month from his gambling operations.