Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 17) – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said the dozens of sabungeros or cockfight enthusiasts missing for months are dead, even as authorities have yet to provide updates on their investigation.
During a speech in an event in Leyte, the President echoed an angle eyed by the police: the sabungeros were taken because of game-fixing.
Game-fixing would require putting a fighting cock at a disadvantage to make sure it loses.
“Lain ang kultura sa mga sabungero ug kanang mga sindikato. Nagkabukuhan lang sila eh. Ang problema gipatay tanan. Thirty-eight, 36?” Duterte said.
[Translation: The culture of sabungeros and syndicates are different. The sabungeros were caught, and the problem is they were killed. Thirty-eight or 36 of them?]
Over 30 people linked to e-sabong activities, or online betting on live cockfighting, were reported missing since April last year. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, chairman of the public order and dangerous drugs committee, identified them as players, “master agents” or recruiters, and drivers whose whereabouts remained unknown.
CNN Philippines contacted the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group for comment on the President’s claim. Its probe into the cases is still ongoing, although Interior Secretary Eduardo Año earlier said eight suspects were identified.
Meanwhile, Dela Rosa told reporters in a text message that those missing are “presumed dead only since no remains have been recovered yet.” He added that the next Senate hearing into the matter is set for March 21.
Duterte rejected senators’ appeal to suspend e-sabong operations, saying the government would otherwise stand to lose some ₱640 million a month, or billions of pesos in a year. He added the state cannot afford this much loss in the middle of a pandemic.
During the Leyte event, the President also noted e-sabong is legal, saying the disappearances “is not the fault of the management,” but “the fault of evil men doing something wrong.”
