Duterte decides to end e-sabong

Following the advice of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the end of e-sabong activities, noting the societal cost to Filipinos.

According to Duterte, an order prohibiting e-sabong will be issued by Tuesday.

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“The recommendation of Sec. Año is to do away with e-sabong,” the President said in his Talk to the People, taped on Monday and aired on Tuesday.

“It’s his recommendation, and I agree with it, e-sabong will end by tonight, bukas, lalabas ito bukas [tomorrow, the order will come out tomorrow],” he added.

Before this, Duterte revealed that he had instructed Año to survey the social impact of online sabong through the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

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“So ginawa ni Sec. Año ang trabaho niya, he reported and validated yung naririnig ko. Yung amin naman sana, buwis lang ang hinahabol namin dito, sinabi ko na sa inyo P640 million is P640 million but may naririnig na ako, loud and very clear to me that it was working against our values,” Duterte said.

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Duterte decides to end e-sabong

(Sec Año did his job. He reported and validated what I heard. As for us, we are only claiming taxes here. I told you that P640 million is P640 million, but I have heard something loud and very clear to me that it was working against our values.)

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“And yung impact sa pamilya pati sa tao e ang labas, di na natutulog yung mga sabungero” he added.

(The impact on the family and the people turns out cockfight players don’t even sleep.)

After initially rejecting senators’ proposal to ban e-sabong until the disappearance of over 30 cockfight enthusiasts was resolved, Duterte ordered the survey.

He had previously mentioned the possibility of revenue loss if e-sabong operations were halted.

Duterte claimed he had permitted e-sabong to continue because the epidemic has depleted other funds.

“Saan ako maghanap ng  P640 million a month, so I allowed it,” Duterte previously said.

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