JakartaPost/AFP-Aug 20
Since the e-sabong ban was initiated, the country’s telecoms commission has blocked more than 6,800 e-sabong websites. Divers have spent more than a month searching a lake south of Manila for the bodies of men with links to the Philippines’ bloody national obsession: cockfighting. They were murdered by rogue police, a government witness said, allegedly for rigging matches at the height of the country’s pandemic-era craze for betting on live-streamed cockfights, or “e-sabong”. The disappearances led then president Rodrigo Duterte to announce a total ban, but three years later, the e-sabong industry is still thriving. On a recent Saturday in the Manila suburb Bulacan, cockfighters, or “sabungeros”, cracked grim jokes about their missing compatriots. Inside the “tarian”, a crowded room where blades are attached to each bird’s leg, sabungero Marcelo Parang insisted the murders had nothing to do with the legal cockfighting world. “We don’t know if [the men killed] did something bad,” said the 60-year-old. “We’re not scared… In here, we’re peaceful. In here, the matches are held fairly,” he said of the deadly contests. Outside, the crowd in the 800-seat arena roared as another bout ended with the losing rooster unceremoniously dumped in an empty paint bucket. Cockpits like the one in Bulacan were once a second home for Ray Gibraltar, who grew up in a family of cockfight enthusiasts. One uncle was a breeder. When the fights moved online during the Covid pandemic, the former director-turned-painter began wagering on them as well. But the easy access, anonymity of the online world, and sheer volume of betting sites can lead to e-sabong addiction, and within a year, Gibraltar was winning and losing upwards of $15,000 a day. Before checking into rehab, he wagered the last 300 pesos in his e-wallet. The story is a familiar one for Reagan Praferosa, founder of Recovering Gamblers of the Philippines, who said few clients show up before hitting rock bottom. “They won’t call us if they still have money,” he said. His first e-sabong addicts began arriving in 2020. Since then, about 30 percent of his caseload has revolved around the livestreamed fights. “[At arenas] you had to go somewhere to cash out. Now… it’s connected to an e-wallet,” he said, adding other forms of gambling were now taking their cues from e-sabong. Read more at:
