PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has denied calls to suspend the operations of e-sabong (online cockfighting).
Duterte stated that the government will suffer big revenue losses if he approves the appeal to temporarily suspend e-sabong operations.
“Ito ang sabihin ko sa mga senador, ang interest lang talaga ng gobyerno is ‘yung pera (This is what I will tell the senators: The government’s interest there is the money). That is all there is to it actually,” Duterte said.
The President said this, as he recognized the Congress’ “strong clamor” to suspend e-sabong operations.
Following a series of suspected abductions and disappearances of aficionados in recent months, calls for the suspension of the multibillion cockfighting industry have risen.
The Resolution 996 was signed by 23 senators urging the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to suspend the license to operate of e-sabong operators and immediately stop all related activities until the cases of 31 missing cockfighting aficionados are resolved.
Duterte recounted how he previously “hated” gambling but had to allow it to continue since it is “good” as the government is benefitting from it.
“Ang ano ko lang kasi is, itong (My take is this) gambling, it is good because government allows it. Kasi kung bad ito (If it’s bad), then there’s no… You cannot look for a rationale to justify it,” he said.
Duterte then ordered lawmakers to respect his decision to allow e-sabong to continue operations because the government is “short of money”.
“Ang appeal ko lang sa mga congressman, huwag na lang niyong anuhin iyan, kumikita iyan. Walang nakikinabang diyan ha, except Pagcor and except ‘yung mga malalaking player (My appeal to congressmen, just don’t ask for its suspension. It is generating money. No one is benefitting from its operations, except Pagcor and key players [of e-sabong]),” Duterte said.
Pagcor chair Andrea Domingo told Duterte that the government was able to collect around PHP3.69 billion from gaming operations of eight e-sabong licensees from April to December 2021.
According to Domingo, there was a collection of about P1.37 billion from the operations of seven licensees from January to March 15, 2022.
Domingo added that two of eight e-sabong operators have already been suspended following their failure to comply with their “financial obligations”.
