Villanueva warns reviving ‘e-sabong’ far worse than Pogo

STILL IN BUSINESS Online cockfighting continues despite a 2022 ban, as shown by this screengrab from a Facebook video in July.

MANILA, Philippines — The government should not consider reviving online cockfighting, or “e-sabong,” to make up for the foregone revenues from the banished Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), Sen. Joel Villanueva said on Sunday.

“We have just defeated an enemy with the Pogo ban, and now some are considering resurrecting e-sabong, which is far worse because it directly targets our kababayans from all walks of life,” he said in a statement.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a ban on all Pogos during his State of the Nation Address last month, directing the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to wind down their operations by the end of the year.

READ: PH ban on Pogos can attract ‘real’ Chinese tourists to PH – expert

“While we badly need revenues, the choice should not be between the devil and the deep blue sea. We want our revenues coming from legitimate, legal and sustainable sources,” Villanueva pointed out.

During the recent House committee on appropriations hearing on Pagcor’s proposed budget for 2025, OFW party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino asked Pagcor Chair Alejandro Tengco whether it was possible to legalize e-sabong to help the agency continue to generate revenues amid the Pogo ban.

READ: DOF: Pogo ban effect on tax drive minimal

Former President Rodrigo Duterte banned e-sabong in May 2022 following the disappearance of 30 cockfight enthusiasts. President Marcos formalized the ban in December 2022.

Illegal operations

In a Senate hearing in February, Tengco admitted that e-sabong continues despite the prohibition, with 789 e-sabong operations still active in defiance of the ban.

Tengco also admitted earlier that they have studied the revival of e-sabong, arguing that they can enhance its operation with better guidelines.

But he said that until a law or an order from the President comes out, “our hands are tied.”

Villanueva, for his part, has filed Senate Bill No. 1281, seeking to prohibit all forms of online gambling in the country.

“No matter how you look at it, the social costs of gambling overshadow the intended benefits,” he said.

Lawmakers, however, have kept mum on the operations of casinos, a major revenue contributor to Pagcor.

After the President announced the ban on Pogos, Senate President Chiz Escudero raised the idea of banning all forms of gambling.

“In the end, if we want to ban gambling and betting in the country, then let’s ban them all, and I will always support that. Whether it’s Pogo, Pigo, or casinos, let’s ban them altogether if we truly believe they are harmful to our society and our fellow citizens,” Escudero said.

He said there should be a national policy if the intention is to mitigate the harmful effects of gambling.

“For me, if we don’t, we will just keep passing laws every time they invent a new name and new type of gambling,” he said.

Minimal revenue loss

Before the e-sabong ban in May 2022, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) reminded operators to pay their tax obligations after a Senate inquiry found them earning billions from online cockfighting apps.

The BIR and Pagcor have failed to withhold the 20-percent tax from the winnings of online sabong operators since virtual cockfighting began in 2020, said Villanueva.

He also called on law enforcement agencies, including the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, to apply the same rigorous measures against e-sabong as they did with Pogos to prevent its resurgence.

“Similar to Pogos, e-sabong has brought social costs—worse, it destroys Filipino families, plunges individuals into severe debt, and even forces some to commit theft and crimes to fund their gambling habits,” Villanueva said.

“We cannot simply turn a blind eye to the suffering of our people who have become victims of the pitfalls of gambling. Money should not be our only consideration; the welfare of our people must come first,” he added.

Pogo earnings

Pagcor earlier estimated that as much as P7.5 billion in expected revenues would be lost following Marcos’ order to pull the plug on Pogos.

But Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, during the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing last week, assured senators that the President’s decision would have no impact on the government’s revenue collection.

He added that the Department of Finance did not include the possible tax collection from Pogos in the government’s projected income to fund the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025.